The astonishing journey to the Land of many Wonders
by Ducky the most evil Swimmer
Summary: Since the Great Valley turns into a hostile place, the herds have to move. A row of unfortunate events causes many losses and the separation of families. Five children must hold on together in order to find their families and to find the mysterious Land of many Wonders. But their greatest enemy is always watching them...
1. Prologue

**Author's note:**

Some of you may know me from the Gang of Five. I decided to share this story here since everyone does it :D Bear in mind that I'm not a native English speaker if you're reading this :)

...

Prologue:

It was night at the Great Valley. The Great Nightcircle was shining and shed light upon the Great Valley. All dinosaurs were sleeping, snoring sounded from everywhere. The Thundering Waterfalls were thundering as always and the little crawling creatures sitting in the grass were awake - in contrast to the majority of the dinosaurs - making their strange, mysterious noices.

But nobody was aware that their nests were located above a powder keg, which would explode very soon...


	2. Chapter 1:

**Chapter 1: The ground is shaking at the Great Valley**

Littlefoot woke up since the ground was shaking. That was nothing to be worried about because earthquakes were quite frequent in the Great Valley. He stood up, stretched his little body and searched for his mother. She had just gone off to bring her little Littlefoot something to eat.

The rest of his family was in the nest still sleeping peacefully. Littlefoot's father, a handsome longneck, feared by all Sharpteeth, who liked to go adventuring, Littlefoot's grandfather, an old and wise longneck, who always had a lot of advice, always tried to dispute resolusion whenever the old Threehorn had a bad temper seeking somebody to argue with, and still wasn't rosty in spite of his advanced age, and Littlefoot's grandmother, who was still good at her feet like her husband and very wise, too.

The little one stayed quiet since he didn't want to wake up his family watching the odd and flying buzzing things and the flyers, who flew around gracefully, but after a short while he got bored. While he was debating whether he should wake up his father, a familiar voice called his name.

"Littlefoot, come here little one. Breakfast."

Littlefoot wasn't capable of speaking yet, but he would be someday, he knew that. The Longneck was happy since his boredom was over. Looking forward to getting something to eat, he ran as fast as his little legs allowed him towards the tree that his mother had chosen for breakfast. However, while he was running, the earth shook again - this time considerably stronger than earlier–causing Littlefoot to trip. His mother tried to reach him. She was unsteady on her legs too since the earthshake was stronger than usual in the Great Valley.

"Are you alright, little one?" she asked her only son. Littlefoot stood up, walked towards his mother and laughed. He was a brave little Longneck compared to other dinosaur children, who were extremely frightened when the earth was shaking.

Now that Littlefoot's Grandparents and his father were wide awake, they had breakfast together eating tasty Treestars. Then they went to the watering place that offered the best water that could be found, but there was a terrible surprise to be discovered...


	3. Chapter 2:

**Chapter 2: Something's wrong **

A fair distance away from the watering place, Grandpa noticed that the temperature was higher than usual in the Great Valley, and the others noticed this as well. Littlefoot prefered to be carried by his father instead of walking himself due to the heat.

A few moments before the Longnecks arrived, they smelled an odd odor that was unknown to them. When they finally arrived at the watering place, the smell was so strong that Littlefoot hid his head in the back of his father.

The Longnecks weren't the only Great Valley residents who were gathered at this watering place, that was boiling and emitting malodorous fumes.

It had spread well that the watering place had changed to the misfortune of the Great Valley residents since nearly everyone of them was gathered there. The Threehorns, the Spiketails, the Flyers, the Swimmers and many more kinds stood around the overheated lake in some distance and gabbered loudly.

"I'm sorry, my son, I doubt we can't get a drink here today!" Littlefoot's father told Littlefoot. "The watering place has changed and it stinks worse than the breath of a Sharptooth."

Littlefoot's grandparents were just about to add something, when a very loud voice was shouting.

"SILENCE!"

The little Longneck was very frightened so he hid even more.

Suddenly there was dead silence. Only the monotonous bubbling of the watering place could be heard.The old and cantankerous Threehorn had to say something.

"Have you ever experienced such a strange thing, my friends? Day after day, earthshakes happen and now our best watering place is bringing death to any of us drinking the water or taking a bath in it. What does that mean?"

The oldest resident, Mr. Thicknose - a Threehorn without horns, just with some little roundings on his head, who had been everywhere being known as the wisest in the Great Valley - stepped into the circle built by the residents.

"Well, the numerous earthshakes aren't uncommon, far-walkers told me about that; it'll pass," he replied. "They also told me that this strange smell mostly appears near of fire pits, but I can't see any. I have to admit that the temperature's higher than usual in the Valley," he added rather talking to himself than to the everyone else.

Murmurs spread between the gathered herds. Meanwhile, all herds had arrived at the watering place without an exception.

"Silence!" the old Threehorn yelled stomping his foot. "Of course it's hot here where the water's boilin'! You better tell us why it's that hot!"

"Threehorn, we already felt the higher temperature in the woods between our resting place and this watering place," Grandpa replied.

"Yeah! We too felt it in our cavern!" the Flyer Mommy told. "In addition, the wind's funny today! It's very easy to fly without flattering much!"

Again, they started to chatter in a mess.

"Silence!" the Threehorn roared again so that Mr. Thicknose could continue talking.

"Yes... Warm air supports you Flyers better than cold air, therefore you can't fly well during the... "

He got no further due to another heavy earthshake that hit the Great Valley. A hollow grumbling and thundering came from the ground of the watering place. Suddenly, a big amount of boiling water shot out of the watering place with a loud bang reaching a huge height that was much higher than Littlefoot's father's head was.

The gathered herds panicked and fled from the watering place.

Littlefoot cried in a scare as his family moved away from the watering place.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the watering place stopped waterspitting...


	4. Chapter 3:

**Chapter 3: A lot of dispute**

After a few minutes had passed, the Great Valley residents calmed down.

"What's just happened?" the old Threehorn shouted. His distorted face was clearly showing how furious he was. Mr. Threehorn hated everything that was changing in the Great Valley, especially, if it was threatening the life of his three daughters; Cera, Cara and Candy.

"It seems as if a hot spring is located under this watering place!" Grandpa assumed, puzzled.

"Yes, Longneck, you might be right, but none of the hot springswe know of stinks so abominable like this one!" the Threehorn answered.

"This is no ordinary hot spring, that's for sure!" Mr. Thicknose added. "I haven't seen anything like that before!"

"You haven't seen something like that before?!" the Threehorn raged. "All of us thought you know everything having been everywhere!"

"How should I know, I..." Mr. Thicknose stammered.

"All of us thought you'd know what needs to be done, but if you ask me, he doesn't know anything!" the Threehorn roared.

"But..."

"Shut up! Go away! You better abstain to ever visit the Valley again! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

"Hey! Calm down everyone... let's find a resolution in peace," Littlefoot's Grandpa suggested.

"Exactly, again and again, we can't decide on matters because you have to argue every time," Littlefoot's Grandma added sending an accusative glare to the Threehorn.

The gathered residents quarreled and quarreled with the old Threehorn, who throughout didn't want to change his opinion, until Mama Swimmer reminded them to take the presence of their children into account. Thereupon, the old Threehorn also relented.

"Well! We'll discuss that further, when our little ones are in their nests," Littlefoot's Grandpa spoke.

All of them agreed so every herd went their ways and so did Littlefoot's herd.

As the Bright Circle disappeared behind the Great Wall, that shielded the Great Valley from Sharpteeth and other dangers coming from the Mysterious Beyond, and as the Night Circle rose, it was time for Littlefoot to get to sleep. His mother brought him a water-filled Treestar since Littlefoot occasionally got thirsty at night. Just as she went to nuzzle him Littlefoot said something.

"Stinky!" His whole family heard him uttering his first spoken word. Within a blink of an eye, all of them gathered around the little one.

"He said 'stinky'?" Littlefoot's father asked in excitement.

"I think so!" Littlefoot's mother whispered and hissed, "Don't be so loud, Bron, you're gonna wake up the whole Valley!"

"Forgive me, dear!" he answered, now with a damped voice. "But this father thing's simply incredibly exiting! To see how my son's growing up and learning, makes me completely fidgety." He grinned at his mate, who cuddled her neck against his.

Littlefoot's Grandparents looked at each other and smiled.

"He's already asleep!" Littlefoot's Grandma stated.

"Now, then let's discuss with the other adults what has to be done!" Littlefoot's Grandpa suggested. They walked towards the formerly best watering place in the Valley.

After all of the kids had been brought to their nests, the adults met again to discuss whether Mr. Thicknose should stay or not and what to do against the odd events.

"First of all, you're allowed to stay, Thicknose, but in spite of that I think of you as a swindler!" The old Threehorn started the debate. "You don't know more than the other residents, you've disappointed all of us!"

"Something like this hasn't happened yet, so how am I supposed to know what to do?"

"You've always affirmed that you know everything, Thicknose!" Mr. Threehorn retorted.

"Don't start arguing again..." Littlefoot's Grandpa sighed. "We need to discuss what has to be done."

"Yes, of course you're right, Longneck, but what are we capable of doing when no one can tell us what's responsible for the events of the last days?" Mr. Threehorn spoke, clueless.

"We should keep some distance to the water emitting, hot and stinky watering place!" Mr. Clubtail suggested.

"We should block the watering place with rocks!" Mr. Threehorn's mate suggested.

"We should ask all our visitors for advice!" Littlefoot's Mother suggested.

"We mustn't lose sight of our kids!" Mama Swimmer shouted, scared - she had brought up 12 children herself being very protective over all of them.

"We should do exactly that and wait how things will develope in our mysterious and dangerous world," Littlefoot's Grandpa said.

"I agree with you, Longneck!" Mr. Threehorn said. "We can't do anything but waiting."

"To block the watering place with rocks, isn't a good idea, if you ask me!" Mr. Thicknose got himself included. "That won't stop whatever is lurking under that watering place."

"Right! How could we heave them to this place anyway?" Littlefoot's Father questioned.

"All right! When YOU say it, Thicknose, it must be right!" the female Threehorn shouted. The old Threehorn grunted.

"My friends, difficult times will come, but we'll survive them like we always did and will do," the old Threehorn said in a leader-like voice. "Let's go to sleep now."

All of them went to their nests and fell asleep quickly. Many of them had bad nightmares since they were startled that they might have to leave the Great Valley their lives being threated.


	5. Chapter 4:

**Chapter 4: Portentous Omen**

The next days and weeks didn't bring dramatic changes in the Valley. The watering place was still spitting boiling water that was still stinking in a harassing way several times a day, more or less weak earthskakes were still happening every now and then and the temperature in the Great Valley was still being higher than usual. The recently born children of the Flyers, the Threehorns, the Swimmers and the Longnecks learned how to speak and they were slowly getting curious since there was so much exciting stuff to be experienced. Littlefoot was exactly like that. The little Longneck was pretty smart for his tender age. He observed that his herd was worried almost all the time, especially, if the ground was shaking or if the watering place was spitting water, thus, one day, he decided to ask his mother.

"Mother?"

"Yes, my dear, what do you want to ask me?"

"Well... I just noticed that you, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma are often worried when the ground is shaking. That's normal so you don't have to worry. It's actually quite funny." He chuckled, then listened to his mother answering his question.

"Oh Littlefoot! By no means the many earthshakes are normal. Currently, they are happening very often and the watering place is drying up and stinks awful, too. You don't know it any other way since you were born only recently. The Valley changes from time to time, everything in this world changes from time to time and now we are confronted with it." She sighed and started to walk towards the Thundering Falls because a bath was overdue for Littlefoot since he had been splashing around in the Mud Pool with his father. "Come on, little one."

Littlefoot followed his mother and asked further questions.

"But mother, why does everything change? And why does the water do these odd things?" Littlefoot's Mother thought about how to explain her son. Since she couldn't even explain these changes to herself, she replied as followed.

"No one here in the Valley knows why the watering place has dried up and why it does these odd things, not even the wise Mr. Thicknose... Things change. It's a fact."

"The world we live in is full of secrets and dangers," Littlefoot's Father, who had been following them, added.

"Where did you come from?" Littlefoot's Mother asked her mate.

"I've been at the watering place again... I have to announce bad news," he answered.

"What's going on, dad?" the little, curious longneck questioned.

"Follow me. The Threehorn has announced a meeting, then you can see it yourself."

So the Longnecks walked to the meeting point, which was at a big meadow since it would be too dangerous at the watering place as Littlefoot's father had told them. Littlefoot was obviously happy because he didn't have to take the bath.

The herd did not walk to the meeting point directly though, because they needed to see the changes at the watering place with their own eyes...

Where originally was water, a hole gaped. Strange vapors were emitted. Severe cracks spread out into all directions.

"We have to talk to the others," Littlefoot's Grandpa said, so they finally walked to the meeting point.

When the herd arrived, it seemed as if all of the residents were already gathered.

"Are we the last to arrive?" Littlefoot's Grandma thus asked. "We were just taking a look at the degree of the catastrophy."

"No, Mr. Thicknose is missing, too!" a Spiketail answered. "But I'm sure he'll come soon."

"I'm sure he'll appear soon!" the Mama Swimmer piped up. "You know that he's quite old... Probably, he wanted to see the changes at the watering place with his own eyes to make the right decision

with his wisdom."

The Threehorn grumbled something, which sounded like 'sure' in a sarcastic way.

The residents chattered quietly and in little groups, whereas the Threehorn observed the dried up watering place alertly.

Though Mr. Thicknose didn't appear... The dinosaurs were getting uneasy.

"Where the hell is this swindler?" Mr Threehorn shouted. He may have made some mistakes, but he wouldn't let us down..."

"Let's search for him, perhaps something bad happened to him," Littlefoot's father suggested. The majority of the group agreed so the herds dispersed and combed through the Great Valley. The Longnecks were the only ones who were brave enough to look around the watering place so Littlefoot walked back there with his parents and grandparents.

There, a horrible sight was awaiting them...


	6. Chapter 5:

**Chapter 5: "We'll have to leave the Great Valley!"**

The dinosaurs of the Great Valley were shocked. Mr. Thicknose was close to the watering place and didn't move at all. Everyone stood around the corpse of the once wisest resident of the Valley, there was dead silence. For a little while, nothing happened at all; just some occasional sobs, especially from the Swimmers, could be heard. Suddenly, they started to gasp for air after a cloud of steam had come out of the watering place.

"Run away!" the Threehorn roared, "Go! To the meeting point!"

He didn't need to tell twice... All dinosaurs fled from the invisible threat coughing and gasping for air. Most of the kids were carried.

When everyone had arrived at the big meadow being able to breath again to some degree, the Threehorn started roaring.

"DAMMIT WHAT'S GOING ON HERE! COULD SOMEBODY EXPLAIN THINGS?!"

Pterano, one of the Flyers, decided to respond walking into the circle.

"Seemingly, it poisons the air that we are breathing. Poor Thicknose wanted to see this with his own eyes but he got into such a cloud like it has just happened to us and... I mean... he's quite old..." Pterano put a tragic expression on. "Well, anyway... he wasn't able to run away in time, such a tragic loss!"

Gracefully, he walked back to his place in the circle.

The Threehorn wasn't happy about this answer at all so he went on raging.

"PAH! SUCH A TRAGIC LOSS..." He stomped his foot so that the gathered residents got startled. The little ones hid behind their mothers.

"THAT SWINDLER WAS SIMPLY TOO STUPID TO GET THAT HE HAD TO RUN AWAY!"

"Now that's going too far, Threehorn!" Littlefoot's father incensed. "I can understand that you're

angry but this way we'll never find a solution."

The Threehorn wasn't far from exploding.

"Mr. Thicknose may have had his faults but you don't need to pull him into the dirt additionally, Threehorn!" another Flyer added.

"Yes, it's already sad enough that he's gone!" Mama Swimmer cried.

"Well, as you suppose, Pterano. You still haven't answered my question so I'll ask you again: Could anyone explain those things?!"

Everyone stood in silence thinking hard. After a short while, Pterano walked into the circle again.

"I can quite imagine that the Great Valley does have a secret we aren't aware of..." he spoke.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?" the Threehorn barked.

"From far above, the Great Valley looks like a mountain whose peak is missing. Instead of the peak,

there's a hole in the middle in which we live. From my point of view, this looks like a common smoking mountain, just bigger and with a hole instead of a fire pit!"

"Do you wanna say we live above a huge fire pit which was closed for some reason?!" Littlefoot's father questioned unbelievingly.

"You could say so," Pterano answered distorting his face. Not only he, but also everybody else had put on a pained expression...

"DAMMIT IT'S HOT HERE!" the Threehorn howled.

"Well, it seems that life doesn't offer us another choice but this," Littlefoot's Grandpa yelled out against the noice of the perturbed dinosaurs."We'll have to leave the Great Valley!"


	7. Chapter 6:

**Chapter 6: The Getaway**

Littlefoot's Grandparents and the Threehorn tried to calm the residents down but they were unsuccessful because the great heat and the nascent and weak earthshakes put the scared dinosaurs in a panic.

The Threehorn had had enough. He considered himself as the leading dinosaur of the herds since he was the strongest and the toughest in the Valley, and being the leader meant protecting those belonging to his group. Since they were panicked, they didn't know what to do but he kept his head cool.

He used his whole strength to roar louder than he ever did in his life.

"SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLEEEEEEEEENNCE!"

Abruptly, there was silence. Just the continuous grumbling out of the ground could be heard.

"We'll use the fire paths to leave the Great Valley as soon as possible! In case we get separated, we'll meet at the Great Water. There's a small oasis where we can stay for a while. Good luck everyone!"

Nobody asked questions. The herds walked in different directions as fast as possible.

"Mother? Why do the other herds take different fire paths?" Littlefoot asked.

"It's not very wise if all dinosaurs use the same fire path," Littlefoot's Mother explained to her little son.

Littlefoot didn't understand why the Great Valley let such odd things happen.

"Why is it better if we separate?" he thus asked. "You're always telling me that we have to stay together so Sharpteeth can't attack us?!"

"You know, Littlefoot, "his mother replied, panting since they hurried a lot. "We made this rule because..."

"LOOK OUT!" Littlefoot's Grandpa shouted.

Above them, something cracked due to the most recent earthshake. The Longnecks started to run. Suddenly some boulders broke off the Great Wall which the Longnecks just climbed. The boulders fell down. Littlefoot's Mother was the last of them. She ran for her life and for her son's. Littlefoot got panicky as he saw the boulders unstoppably flying towards him.

"Mother, run faster!" he shouted to his mother vigorously.

Littlefoot's Mother ran even faster. The little Longneck saw the boulders approaching. He covered his eyes with his front legs. Then the boulders crashed into the ground with a very loud bang missing his mother's tail only by hairbreadths. Littlefoot's Mother, as well as the other three Longnecks, stopped running to take a deep breath because Littlefoot's Father and Grandparents had to run very fast, too.

Littlefoot opened his eyes and looked down to the formerly friendly Great Valley. Around the formerly best watering place, some trees were already burning. Steam came out of the cracks in the ground. The multiple watering places of the Great Valley already started to boil away.

"That's just a very good example... You always have to keep your eyes open, talk only if it's necessary when you're in danger in order to react to dangers quickly and never travel alone, there you're right, little one,"

Littlefoot's Mother explained and slowly recovered from her sprint. Eventually, they went on their way.

"If Grandpa hadn't kept his eyes open, my tail would have been hit by the boulders. We wouldn't go on our way now..." she explained further.

"Right, plus, if all dinosaurs had chosen this fire path, your mother hadn't been able to run away that fast since there would have been a blockage," Littlefoot's Grandma added.

"Let's just bugger off as fast as we can," Littlefoot's Father proposed.

The four Longnecks ran along the fire path. Without a break, little rocks rained down from above. Meanwhile, the ground was trembling without an interruption increasing in terms of strength. When they had finally arrived at the top of the Great Wall, a big cloud of smoke rose above the Great Valley. Littlefoot looked back at his home getting very sad. He would never see the Great Valley again. Another earth tremor cleared his mind so he was able to concentrate on the danger from the Great Valley.

His parents and grandparents ran out of breath. Especially Grandma seemed to be at the end of her strength. Her advanced age made it even worse.

"Should we slow down a bit, dear?" Littlefoot's Grandpa asked, worried.

"Just a little bit," she wheezed. "If you need to, just leave me behind and safe your own lives."

"We don't leave anyone behind!" Littlefoot's Father shouted combatively. "We're a herd and a family so we gonna hold on together until the end."

"I think it's best if Grandma leads us," Littlefoot's Mother suggested. Everyone agreed.

Now they walked slightly slower. Littlefoot didn't dare to look back since a scary rumbling came from the Great Valley. But finally his curiosity was stronger than his fear. He turned around and looked at the Great Valley; they had already made a big distance.

Suddenly, the earth started to tremble stronger than ever before, the rumbling increased and then Littlefoot saw the catastrophy taking its course. The ground bursted open and an incredibly big

ball of fire, mixed with black ash, shot out of what was once their home with an inconceivable force. Littlefoot got panicky.

"It's happening!" he screamed in fear.

The Longnecks stopped immediately, turning around. They saw the huge ball of fire briefly before all of them were torn down by an impactful shockwave...


	8. Chapter 7:

**Chapter 7: Trapped in darkness**

Due to the shock wave, all flying dinosaurs were brought down and numbed for some time. Even the Flyers who had already made a big distance crashed down. Many were knocked unconscious, none of the dinosaurs could continue their flight. A few of them had their bones broken.

The ground moved in waves, no one had ever experienced such a heavy Earthshake. Fiery ash soared up from the whole Valley.

Then the earthshake tailed off. Littlefoot and his family attepted to regain their footing and get to their feet. After several unsuccessful attempts, Grandma, who limped a bit, made it too so they continued their escape. The sky above them was covered by the enormous cloud of ash that increased in size in an unbelievingly little perio of time whereby it became darker and darker. Littlefoot was scared.

"Mother?" he asked his mother shily.

His mother, who was still carrying him, answered.

"Yes, what do you want to ask, sweetheart?"

"What is up there in the cloud?"

All looked at Grandpa since he more often than not knew an advice when all the others were clueless. He cleared his throat since his neck had become dry due to the effort.

"This is ash. It consists of tiny stones - tinier than sand corns - thus they can reach enormous heights."

"But can the ash fall down at all?" Littlefoot asked and digged deeper.

"Yes! And I hope that it doesn't happen right now because we're located under the ash, so it would bury us!"

"So let's hurry up because I heard that dinosaurs can smother from ash like it happened to Mr. Thicknose who was smothered due to the bad smelling vapors," Littlefoot's Father added.

"Sweetheart, how's your leg?" Grandpa asked.

"It's okay I think!" Grandma replied defiantly. "I'll lead us again so you can walk my pace. In case I'm too slow, leave me behind."

"We don't leave anyone behind!" Littlefoot's Father repeated. "Now come on and hurry up!"

The Longnecks hurried more than they ever did before, but the cloud of ash was way faster. It was getting darker already.

After a while, Grandpa questioned Littlefoot if he could look back. So he turned around and looked back, marvelling. The Great Valley couldn't be seen; instead he could see a lot of ash which fell to the ground. Frightened, he stared to the sky. He had to notice that the cloud above him didn't have a clear shape anymore - both behind and above as well as in front of them.

"Mother, Mother, I think the ash is going to fall to the ground soon!" he shouted, panicked.

The Longnecks stopped looking into the sky.

"NOOOO!" Littlefoot's Mother screamed.

"There's no chance of escaping the ash anymore," Grandma stated objectively.

"No! We can make it! Hurry up!" Littlefoot's Father screamed.

"Be reasonable, Bron! We're better off if we stay together and sit out the danger," Grandpa argued, but Littlefoot's Father was guided by his fear.

"NEVER! I wanna live, I don't wanna suffocate!"

"Stay, please!" Littlefoot's Mother begged, without any success. Bron began to run.

"I'll search for you as soon as it's over! Good Luck!" he called before leaving.

Littlefoot's Mother watched his senseless departure, stunned, as well as her parents, until they, and some moments later Bron, got swallowed by the masses of ash...

Unstoppably, the grey ash fell onto the Longnecks. The three remaining grown-ups protected

Littlefoot by placing him in the middle of them, and they tried to breathe in a minimum amount of ash. They waited for hours since it would have been suicid to continue their journey. The danger of inhaling the ash was simply too great. On top of that, they wouldn't escape the cloud of ash at all.

Here and there some mainly little stones fell from the sky, which were so small that even Littlefoot hardly noticed them at all. In the meantime, he got covered by the ash completely.

As time flew, it became darker and darker, provided it could become even darker under a cloud of ash.

Littlefoot and his Mother were already asleep, only Grandma and Grandpa talked about Bron's unexpected flight dimly. Then their eyes shut closed as well and they fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 8:

**Chapter 8: In Search for Bron**

The situation of the Longnecks didn't change over the next few days. Ash didn't stop raining down on them. It smelled terrible and everyone could hear the rumbling from the Great Valley the whole time which was quite loud.

On the sixth day the rumbling finally muted and the raining down of the ash decreased. Nevertheless, it was still strong enough to prevent the Longnecks from continuing their journey.

Finally, on the seventh day, they could continue to wander to the oasis. However, they needed to dig through the masses of ash which was quite difficult so they progressed slowly and laboriously.

"Grandpa, Grandma, where's Dad?" Littlefoot asked his Grandparents.

They exchanged stares wrinkledly, thinking hard about how to tell it their grandson.

"Well, I don't know, little one," Grandma started. "We are in search for him and he might be in search for us, too..."

"Don't worry, Littlefoot," his mother added.

"Yeah," Grandpa said sanguinely, "The meeting place is a little oasis at the Big Water, your father is aware of that," he said, smiling.

"What's the Big Water?" Littlefoot questioned.

"You'll see, my dear," his mother answered.

"But Mother!" Littlefoot whined, "I wanna know! I'm hungry and thirsty as well!"

"Same here, sweetheart.." his mother replied.

"We are as well," Grandma chimed in. Grandpa nodded in agreement.

"So let's hurry up," Grandpa recommended, taking up the top. With that he took place of

Littlefoot's Mother in leading them away, changing their path towards the direction of the Big Water. Thankfully, they soon passed the area where the ash was especially high. The ash was only about half a metre high, so the grown-ups could easily step over it.

The Longnecks moved some ash away to have a place to rest for the night, and they lay down and instantly fell into a deep sleep due to the exhaustion of their travelling...

Throughout the next days, nothing important happened. Between the now non-existent Great Valley and the Big Water, was a vast and monotonous wasteland. Hunger and thirst plagued the Longnecks. Thankfully, Littlefoot's relatives knew where they had to wander quite well since it was very difficult for them to orientate in such a monotonous landscape.

Littlefoot whined again and again when they would finally be there. Though he always got the same reply from his mother.

"We are there if we are there, little one."

After wandering through the desert for ten days, the Longnecks eventually arrived at a high sand dune.

"Do you smell that, Littlefoot?" Grandpa questioned.

"My sniffer's completely dried up," the little Longneck responded. "I can't smell anything."

"Well, you didn't even try!" Grandma, who was now carrying the little one, critisized.

"Right, you can't say 'I can't do that' if you haven't even tried it," his mother confirmed caringly but not reproachfully.

"Remember that!" Grandma ordered. She was kind of harsh due to the exhaustion caused by their long travel and being plagued by hunger, thirst and pain.

"Okay," Littlefoot answered cowardly.

"It's alright, little one," his mother calmed him down.

"Right behind this sand dune is the Big Water, Littlefoot," Grandpa told.

"Yay!" the little Longneck celebrated.

"Though you mustn't drink from this water in any case, alright?" his mother reminded.

"Why?! I'M THIRSTY!" he cried.

"The Big Water tastes awful," Grandma explained. "And it makes you even thirstier."

"I'll drink it," Littlefoot told determinedly.

"You'll spit it out, trust me," Grandma said as determined as her grandson.

Littlefoot ran away. His mother and his grandparents didn't try to stop him. They knew he would learn his lesson. As Littlefoot eventually arrived at the highest point of the dune, his mouth hung open. He hadn't seen so much water in his short life so far. It made those funny movements: First towards him, then away from him, then towards him again, away... The little Longneck ran to the Big Water... and jumped into it. Immediately, he lost his footing due to the movements of the water. He swallowed a huge amount of water which tasted terrible, just as his Grandma had told him. He coughed, swallowed even more water, coughed again, and was pulled under the surface, using his last strenghs to stay above the surface and coughing his guts out.

"Littlefoot!" his mother, who just arrived the top of the dune, called. "I'm coming, hang on!"

Littlefoot tried not to sink desperately, but he was swallowing a lot of water.

Suddenly, he perished.

"LITTLEFOOT!" his mother screamed. She ran to the coast, diving her head under the surface. She spotted Littlefoot lying on the ground of the Big Water and not moving anymore.

'Fortunately, the water isn't deep here!' she thought. She grabbed her son's tail and pulled him out of the water.

Meanwhile, Grandpa had arrived, and he took the motionless Littlefoot from her. Carefully, he placed him on the ground. He hit him on the back with his tail softly, hoping it would work.

Littlefoot started coughing, and a lot of water came out of his mouth. He was alive!


	10. Chapter 9:

Author's Note:Due to lenght this is divided into parts.

**Chapter 9: The Battle**

Part 1: Grandma was right!

After Littlefoot had spat out all the water again, his mother put him on her back.

Littlefoot fell asleep with exhaustion.

The Bright Circle was burning from the sky. The wind blowing from the Big Water offered little relief.

Littlefoot woke up late in the afternoon. His neck and his mouth were parched and searing from the saltwater he had swallowed having to admit that his grandma was right. Being extremely thirsty and feeling scorched, he was startled to realise he couldn't speak.

'It must be because my neck is so dry,' he thought.

He passed out soon. If he didn't get something to drink soon, he would die. Littlefoot's herd knew that as well, so they moved on as fast as possible to reach the oasis that very

night.

At dawn, they finally reached the oasis and they went to the nearest watering hole.

Grandma tried to wake up Littlefoot on the back of his mother but it was no use. The little Longneck was very close to death. Therefore, she grabbed the little one, carefully placing

him into the shallow water so that the water could flow into his mouth. Littlefoot drank very much until his herd finally decided he had had enough for the moment.

Exhausted from their long journey, they laid down and fell asleep.

Part 2: Danger Ahead

At noon, the four Longnecks woke up. It was almost impossible to wake up Littlefoot though.

After all of them had a drink at the watering hole, they wandered around to find a tree that has juisy treestars. As they eventually had found such a tree, they munched as much as they could since

they didn't know how much time they would spend at this place. Besides, they had had a hellish hunger since they hadn't eaten anything for almost two weeks.

Just as they were about to settle down and rest to regenerate their strength and to take a relaxing sunbath, a roar could be heard in the distance.

"Mother, what was that?" Littlefoot asked, startled.

"It was a Sharptooth," she replied.

"A Sh-sh-sharptooth!?" Littlefoot screamed.

"We ought to find and warn the others," Grandpa announced...

The five Threehorns - the old Threehorn, his mate and their three daughters - woke up. It was still early in the morning. The Threehorns had been the first of the GreatValleians to arrive at the little oasis.

After the little ones had filled their tummies, they played tag on a meadow - always under the watchful eyes of their mother.

The old Threehorn had knocked over a tree so that his mate and he could feast on the Treestars. After a while, the Threehorn called.

"I gonna explore this place a bit."

"Alright..." his mate replied drowsily, dozing a bit. "Take care of yourself, dear."

"I will, sweetheart," he answered, grinning and walking away.

The old Threehorn's mate watched him until he had disappeared. With a smile on her face, she went on dozing, always keeping one eye open to watch the children splashing around in a nearby river.

After some time had passed, she heard a roar that with no doubt was uttered by a Sharptooth.

She immediately jumped to her feet, calling her three daughters.

"Cera, Candy, Cara!" She hoped their daddy was in safety...

Like the Longnecks, the Swimmers had arrived in the middle of the night. They had entered the oasis fromthe land though since the parents probably hadn't been able to keep their twelve little ones fromswimming in the Big Water - the instict not to go to far from any water, to bath in it, to splash init and to swim in it was fairly strong after all.

Anyhow, at noon, the Swimmers were woken up by a loud roar rudely. The kids got petrified. They ran around in a mess, screaming and crying.

"Settle down, kids!" their mother called, none of them listened.

"HEY!" their father bellowed. This time all of them stood still and listened carefully.

"Come on! We ought to find the others who can fight these beasts more efficiently than us Swimmers!"

The Flyers had arrived at the oasis the day before. They had spent the night in a cave at the land sideof the oasis. At the next morning, they were searching for berries.

Whereas Pterano prefered fish, his sister, her mate and their five children rather had berries and other Sweet Bubbles. As they finally discovered some Sweet Bubbles after a lenghty search, they landedin one of the trees, pleasureably munching on the superbly tasting Sweet Bubbles, while Pterano was fishing nearby. They hadn't finished their meal as a roar sounded.

"The last thing we need are Sharpteeth..." the male Flyer murmured.

"Follow me, kids, Sharpteeth are around!" Mama Flyer called.

Pterano came back from the fishing.

"You heard that?!" he shouted, excited.

"We did.. obviously," his sister commented. "We must warn the others!"

"Come Petrie!" Pterano told one of the young ones who wasn't able to fly yet. "I carry you."

Mr. Clubtail was just enjoying some farns as he heard a loud roar.

"I knew I'd need ya soon, buppy!" he commented the situation, swinging his tail with the dreaded 'bupper' on its end around. He watched the Flyers rising into the air.

"Finally, there's some action!" he pleased.

A Spiketail family consisting of a pair of parents, a grandma and three recently hatched kidsheard the roar as well. They were the only residents of this place but it was the first time that

a Sharptooth dared to show his face there.

"You all know, what has to be done..." the old, frail female Spiketail stated.

"Mother!" the male Spiketail retorted. "We won't leave this paradise!"

"Yeah! We'll ally with the visitors of this oasis," his mate confirmed.

"We'll drive those Sharpteeth out, together!"

Three Longnecks being close to finish the 'Time of Great Growing' just were eating when they heard the Sharptooth roar.

"Hey Freddy! You heard this?!" one of them called.

"Yo Greg! You heard it, Melissa?"

"I'm not deaf, boys!" Melissa laughed.

"What do we do now?" Freddy asked.

"Why we kick those cowards into their ugly butts," Greg announced self-confidently.

"I consider this a stupid idea," Melissa warned.

"Come on, scaredy-egg!" Greg begged.

"Don't you remember Greg winning against this Bellydragger?" Freddy questioned.

"I do! I won't join this nonetheless," she declared. "I'll ally with the other dinosaurs."

"There are more?!" Freddy wondered.

"Yeah... alright. You lead the way," Greg compromised.

"Okay! Follow me, boys!"

Part 3: Planning the Battle

The big green-greyish Sharptooth with eyes green as poison looked down at the oasis.

This will be a feast my little Fastbiter friends! he laughed.

Two dozens of Fastbiters stood around the Sharptooth in a semicircle. All of them were hungry, ready to do everything to satisfy their hunger. Though there was another thing that incided them...

The usual way he instructed them.

The Fastbiters charged towards the oasis on silent claws.

The Sharptooth let out an elated scream and followed his loyal fellow Fastbiters...

After all grown-ups and their kids had gathered on a big meadow amidst the oasis, Grandpa started talking. Everyone was listening in exitement and fear.

"Hello my friends. As you certainly have already noticed, there are Sharpteeth nearby."

Loud murmurs and declarations of anxiety were uttered.

"I know that you are probably scared but there is safety in numbers after all."

"As most of you know, I actually can't stand Longnecks but I ought to agree with you. If we stay together,placing our kids in the inside of the circle, nothing should go wrong," the Threehorn spoke up.

"Pterano," Littlefoot's Mother called. "Would you mind looking out from above so that we won't get attacked when we least expect it?"

"Sure. I won't be of great help on the ground, anyway," he joked, turning seriously againimmediately.

"Return if we have to fear an attack," Grandma instructed.

"And tell us how many we might have to deal with," the female Threehorn exclaimed. "Sharpteeth don't attack alone, usually." She twinkled to her mate.

"That's correct..." Mr. Threehorn muttered.

Pterano raised up, flying in the direction where they believed the Sharpteeth to be.

"Alright!" Grandpa continued. "We need to divide into different groups."

"Every group will get a respective task," Grandma went on.

"Form groups? What for?" Freddy questioned.

"Oh Freddy, silly," Melissa giggled. "So that everyone knows what he has to do."

"I'm with Freddy on this one," Greg affirmed. "I tell you we simply overwhelm them!"

"Calm down, kids," the Threehorn laughed. "You stay in our middle where it's safest."

"But..." Greg protested.

"Why don't you let him, dear?!" Threehorn's mate whispered. "If he absolutely wants to fight, let him."

"He's old enough after all," the Swimmer Daddy confirmed.

"Why not. You'll fight with us," the old Threehorn announced.

"You Swimmers could watch our kids," Grandma suggested.

"But I'd like to build something to defend myself first," the Swimmer Daddy responded. He was known for his great skillfulness and ability to create things made of wood and rock.

In the past, he used to use a sharpened stick to fight which he unfortunately lost during the escape from the Great Valley.

"Do you think you can manage this in a time that limited?" Grandpa asked in doubt.

"Sure. I only need a sharp-edged rock and a long, preferably straight and sturdy stick," he replied.

"Can I be of help?" the Flyer Daddy offered.

"It'd be a pleasure," the Swimmer Daddy replied. Together, they walked - respectively flew away.

"Alright, the Spiket..." Grandpa was about to say but he was interrupted by Pterano who panic-struck approached them, landing ungently.

Out of breath he shouted.

"It's him, it's HIM, we must ESCAPE!"

"WHO!?" the Threehorn bellowed.

"T-the one that once dared to enter the Great Valley," Pterano exclaimed, terrified.

"The one whose brother I 'accidently' pushed down the abyss?" Littlefoot's Mother questioned in horror.

"You got it," Pterano sighed.

"What happened back then?" the old Spiketail asked.

"There's no time for this now!" the Threehorn snapped at her. "We're so many that he wouldn't even dare to get close to us."

"I haven't revealed the details yet..." Pterano sighed. "He has an 'army', an army of Fastbiters!"

The Dreihorn looked as if he had seen a flying Longneck.

"How many?" Grandpa whispered.

"Two dozens," Pterano grimly replied.

"That's horrendous!" Mama Flyer exclaimed.

"Indeed!" the Threehorn, who got his composure back, roared. "When will they attack, Pterano?"

"You know I ain't speaking Sharptooth but I believe that they rest and discuss everything first before they're going to attack us - from the looks of it, that is..."

"Mother?" Littlefoot asked.

"Shhhhhht!" she cut him off.

"Let's hope that Pterano is right," Grandpa spoke.

"You still wanna fight them!?" Melissa teased snappily.

"S-sure..." Greg replied unsteadily.

"Idiot!"

"Now that we know the exact strenght of our enemies I consider it best to build a line!" Grandpa proposed.

"Why of all a line? It's even easier for them to break through!" the Threehorn retorted.

"None of our lineups will stand like a mountain for long since Sharpteeth usually try to separate single individuals from the others," Grandpa reasoned.

"Yes, but what about our children?" the Threehorn questioned.

"We will place somebody behind the lineup who protects the children," Grandpa responded.

"I watch our little ones," Mama Swimmer offered.

"Sure you can but you're not strong enough to defend them!" the Threehorn retorted.

"I defend our children!" Littlefoot's Mother exclaimed.

"I was about to propose that, my daughter," Grandpa spoke.

"But we need strong fighters at the front!" the Threehorn, who slowly got annoyed by the Longnecks, screamed.

"We also need someone who is actually capable of protecting the children!" Grandma argued furiously.

"Humpff!"

"Enough disputes for today! Let's rest so that we're fit for the fight when it starts," Grandpa suggested.

Everyone agreed. Most of them ate and drank something to strenghten their bodies.

Pterano spyed the pack without getting any news worthy to tell.

After a while - the Swimmer Daddy and the Flyer Daddy were back in the meanwhile - Grandpa walked to the Spiketails to ask if they were still willing to listen to the story. They affirmed.

Grandpa gathered everyone around him and started narrating...

Part 4: Vendetta

"Some years ago, two gigantic Sharpteeth entered our home, the Great Valley. Although our valley was protected by a big wall, they were able to break into the valley. Of course they were noticed quickly. As we do today we gathered, trying to drive those Sharpteeth out of our valley. The Sharpteeth were tough and hard to beat but due to our majority we could drive them back. Then, nearby an abyss, my daughter pushed one of the two into this very abyss. He was never seen or heard of again. The remaining Sharptooth got extremely furious. Since he had no chance in a fight against us, he flew off into the Mysterious Beyond."

"I'm afraid that he is on a vendetta now," Grandma finished the story.

"Yeah, it's hard to guess whom he wants to get rid of!" the Threehorn shouted sarcastically, earning him a few furious glares.

"I'll leave him toothless if he makes it to me!" Littlefoot's Mother shouted grimly.

"Pterano, keep being on the lookout for these beasts!" the Threehorn ordered. Pterano obeyed him though he didn't like the way of the Threehorn spoke to him at all.

When he came back, he had bad news...

The Sharptooth had indeed allowed his followers to have a break since the leafeaters were well organised so they would be harder to beat. Though he would beat them, even if it was the last thing he did... Finally, he would be able to avenge his brother! He had gathered loyal Fastbiter-followers for years; he wandered through the land in search of trustworthy followers... and now he didn't even need to set foot into this bloody Great Valley... This day seemed to be a lucky one.

He was still able to remember every tiny detail. He recognized every leafeater that had battled him and his brother back then and he especially recognized the murderer of his brother. How could he even forget her glance after she had pushed HIM into this abyss... pure pleasure!

If only he had been able to fight her, one-on-one as it should be but she would be protected so he would need to take on the others first. Too bad that that damned spy had told them it's him. He would have been able to attack them, take them by surprise and no one would have recognised him in time.

He felt it was time to attack.

Enough resting! We're going to attack now!

The Fastbiters stood up and got ready. They hadn't had a meal in a while so they were even more motivated to take on the leafeaters.

Kill as many as possible! But don't attack the killer of my beloved brother... she belongs to me...

The group made their way to the leafeaters...

"They are attacking!" Pterano screamed from a distance. He made a rough landing. "They're coming..."

"Fine! Everyone to their positions but keep some distance between each other!" the Threehorn barked.

He created the lineup: rightmost the Spiketails, next to them the Threehorns, then the Swimmer Daddy, Mr. Clubtail, Grandma and Grandpa Longneck and leftmost Greg, who declared he would fight on the end of the lineup, Freddy and and the Flyer Parents would throw stones that they had collected with the Daddy Swimmer who, in turn,would fight with his sharpened tree branch to distract them. Mama Swimmer would watch the children alongside Littlefoot's Mother, protecting them.

"Candy, Cera, Cara! Stay behind me and watch so you can see how to fight!" the old Threehorn shouted at his daughters.

"Do I need to remind you that we agreed on the Swimmer and my daughter to protect ALL of the kids?" Grandpa retorted.

"I'd like my kids to stay with me as well," the Daddy Spiketail said calm but resolute.

"My little ones, stay with me!" the Mummy Swimmer shouted indignantly.

"Mine too," the Mummy Flyer agreed.

"You too, Littlefoot," Grandma reminded.

"Yeah! Mother protects me," he said and smiled slightly.

"Come on, little one!" his mother called.

"Coming!" the little Longneck replied.

"They're coming!" Mr. Clubtail called, gaining everyone's attention. The pack stormed out of a wood notfar away.

"Everybody to their positions!" the Threehorn barked. They obeyed.

Part 5: The Battle

The 'battlefield' was a big meadow bounded by a rocky wall at one side and by the river streaming through the oasis on the other side. The invaders came from another direction, where a forest grew. The only escape path would lead back to the Big Water...

The Fastbiters divided into groups on approach, already targeting different dinosaurs...

Then both groups collided. Greg, Freddy and Melissa clashed with a Fastbiter each, Grandma and Grandpa even fought against eight of them in one go! Mr. Clubtail and the Daddy Swimmer faced off against another three beasts while the Threehorn and his mate battled against six of them and the Spiketails took on four of the Fastbiters. The Sharptooth observed the action but stayed close enough to intervene if his Fastbiters needed support.

It only took a few moments for the attackers to claim the first casualty. Four Fastbiters pushed Grandma to the ground with a well-coordinated jump. There, they started to bite down on the now defenseless Longneck and cut her with their razor-sharp claws. Grandpa was under such pressure from the other four that he couldn't come to the rescue.

"Mother, you must help Grandma!" Littlefoot screamed in a panic.

She made a quick decision, having seen the large amount of blood weeping from Grandma. Neglecting her duty to protect the children, she ran over to save her mother's life. With only a few steps, she arrived. Her tail raised, she beat all four Fastbiters so that they flew high through the air.

Grandma whispered a weak 'thanks' but she remained lying at the ground, covered in blood and paralysed by pain.

"You have to protect me!" the Swimmer criticized.

"Run away! We can't hold the line..." she shouted just as a Fastbiter was trying to jump on her back. Masterfully, she whipped him away with her tail. "...I'm afraid," she finished her sentence.

The Swimmer stayed, despite wanting to flee as it was too dangerous for her and her kids to attempt to make an escape right now.

Meanwhile, the beasts had brought the old Spiketail down. However, the Daddy Swimmer andthe Threehorn's mate each stabbed one of their opponents with their respective weapons, killing them.

The Sharptooth had to admit that the fight would end in a tie if he didn't join it. He let out a

howl before charging at the Threehorns...

Greg basically fought against four Fastbiters on his own. Freddy, and especially Melissa, were too frightened by the beasts and poorly experienced in self-defense to be of much use. Greg was just about to give his friends some orders when one of the Fastbiters rammed its head into Greg's side. Greg fell to the ground and the others immediately approached and bit into his neck. Greg flinched a few times before laying completely still.

Melissa needed a few seconds to realise what had just happened. One of her friends had been killed right before her eyes. She just wanted to be far away! Turning around, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. One of the Fastbiters gave chase...

Freddy, on the other hand, became incredibly furious. The death of his best friend gave him unexpected bravery. He had almost nothing to loose now so he stormed towards the three Fastbiters, ramming one of them with his body. As he slowed down, he struck the other two with his tail. However, the beasts recovered quite fast and with a coordinated attack, all three of them jumped on Freddy's back simultaneously. Freddy was doomed; he was bitten severely. Freddy couldn't shake them off as more flesh was ripped from his body. He became weaker and weaker until he could not feel any pain anymore. Eventually, he collapsed to the ground and awaited his fate.

While the Fastbiters attacked the old Threehorn, relentlessly attacking him, although most attacks ended in a painful counter, the Sharptooth took on his mate.

The Spiketails were inferior to their opponents. The old Spiketail was heavily injured and both grown-ups had to stand one hit after another. The female who carried their children on her back was unsteady on her feet.

"Run kids, run..." she whispered weakly. Two of the Fastbiters had bitten her leg causing her to crash to the ground. The three kids screamed and ran away. The Fastbiters however snapped at the kids catching two of them, the other one was able to escape. It ran and ran, crying until it eventually had left the oasis. The father of the little ones tried to escape with the last bit of strength but he failed. The Fastbiters jumped on him until he finally collapsed; hunted down just like his mate...

After Threehorn's mate had bravely survived the Sharptooth's first onslaught, the Sharptooth and the female Threehorn spied each other. The Sharptooth knew that the Threehorn would be tough to defeat. Threehorns were the only leafeaters that were best equipped to kill a Sharptooth. Other kinds were also able to injure or even kill them like Clubtails or Longnecks though...

The Sharptooth approached her cautiously as the Threehorn fearfully shuffled backwards, all the while keeping a sharp eye on the beast staring down on her. He drove her back in the direction which he came from while the Fastbiters forced the other Threehorn to move in the opposite direction...

The mate of the old Threehorn was frightened. She knew exactly what the Sharptooth had in mind, and she was even letting it happen. Plucking up the courage, she charged forwards surprising the Sharptooth...

Mr. Clubtail and the Swimmer were separated as well. Each of them had to face two Fastbiters since the two beasts that had fought against the Longnecks had 'replaced' their dead companions.

While Mr. Clubtail was amused by the fighting - he was pretty tough to defeat due to his excellent armour and his dreaded bopper after all - the Swimmer was in big trouble. He had suffered a bad cut on his strong arm almost leaving him unable to fight. Still, he wasn't willing to give up. He bravely fought off the attacks of the two Fastbiters but they knew the Swimmer was injured and seemed to be dodging more than fighting. Even then, he could only take on one of them since he only had one working arm. As his opponents were distracted by one of the Flyers, the Swimmer charged at them, his sharpened branch raised. Their reaction was quick and they got out of the way. The Swimmer, who had put his whole strength and hope into the attack, stormed past them, stumbled and fell. He lost his weapon and now escape was the only remaining option. Although the ground was more comfortable than anything he had ever lied on, he heaved himself up to start to run. One of the Fastbiters closed in quickly.

Mama Swimmer and her twelve little ones watched the fight, shocked and startled; everyone of them, except one girl that had secretly walked away from her mother who was too busy watching her mate. The little Swimmer began following a butterfly, jumping up at it...

Mr. Clubtail left his opponents, who were neither able to attack him nor able to defend themselves anymore, toothless and moved to the Longnecks who, in the meantime, were completely encircled...

In a nosedive, Pterano had just saved the old Threehorn from a dangerous attack by giving a Fastbiter, who had sneaked behind the courageous Threehorn as he was fighting, a powerful blow to the head knocking it out just as it was about to jump onto the Threehorn's back. Blood oozed out of a gaping wound at the back of its head.

"After all the years, I'm still strong!" he rejoiced inwardly, surprised that the attack had incapacitated the beast. He flew higher into the air to get a better view on things to observe where his help might be needed most.

Suddenly, a couple of things happened almost simultaneously...

Part 6: Death Everywhere

Pterano watched the battle suddenly turning around to the misfortune of the leafeaters helplessly.

Melissa couldn't run further since her legs became too heavy. The Fastbiter that chased her slowly approached. Melissa had only one option - no matter how much she hated it: she had to fight!

She turned her back side towards the beast brandishing her tail.

The Fastbiter paused considering how to pass this 'barrier'. Eventually, he made a decision. Heaimed at his victim, jumped and landed on the young Longneck. Melissa screamed as the beast bit her tail and her back with its razor-sharp teeth. Melissa tried to shake the attacker off, but she failed. With every fruitless attempt, with every piece of flesh that was torn out of her body, she became weaker. Finally, her vision blacked, her legs weakened and she crashed to the ground. Her last thought was that she had at least tried...

The two Fastbiters had caught up with the Swimmer. Mama Swimmer grabbed her little ones and ran away. She didn't want her little ones to watch their father die but also did she want to bugger off because the others couldn't guarantee her safety anymore. She was in such a hurry that she accidentally forgot about Littlefoot hiding in a bush...

The Swimmer knew that it was over as he saw the ugly snouts of the beasts to the right and left of him. His last thoughts were of his family who hopefully didn't have to watch him get hunted down. One of the two Fastbiters jumped for his throat, ending his life quickly and without any pain...

The Sharptooth was still battling with Threehorn's mate. Both had hardly harmed each other so far though, for the Sharptooth didn't WANT to harm her yet. He waited for the right time to attack which was just about at this moment...

His companions had just taken over control of the brutal battle which worked in his favour. Since he had studied his opponent very well while pretending to truly fight her, he knew exactly what to do. He roared an important order to his Fastbiters. At that moment, he pretended to be distracted.

The mate of the Threehorn eyed her chance and stormed forwards...

Mr. Clubtail, Littlefoot's Mother, Grandma and Grandpa were meanwhile separated from the Threehorns. They were encircled by a dozen Fastbiters, who again and again attacked to weaken them. The fight was becoming tiresome and they had taken quite a beating. Some of the beasts were already injured so the group still considered a victory possible if they stood their ground.

The Fastbiters heard the order of their leader, promptly translated it into action. They stopped attacking and stepped back a few meters. The leafeaters took the opportunity to talk.

"Is everyone alright?" Grandpa inquired sending a worried glance to Grandma who looked pretty bad.

"It's... alright!" she groaned in pain.

"Those critters are tougher than I thought!" Mr. Clubtail cringed morosely.

"Yes, I'm afraid you're right," Grandpa sighed.

"You think the Swimmer is safe?" Littlefoot's Mother questioned apprehensively.

"I saw her running away a little while ago," Grandma replied quietly.

"Whoo! That's good news!" Littlefoot's Mother exclaimed. "I was actually supposed to protect her."

"Where is this Sharptooth by the w..." Grandpa was about to ask as the Fastbiters jumped all of a sudden catching all four of them by surprise. A dozen Fastbiters flew towards the completely unprepared Longnecks. Most of them hit Grandma, causing her to fall. Grandpa was the other victim. Mr. Clubtail and Littlefoot's Mother weren't attacked at all. They tried to rescue Grandma who defenselessly lay on her side. Mr. Clubtail jumped on one Fastbiter who had a hard crash to the ground as Grandma fell over. With some well-placed hits of his club, the beast was eliminated for good. Meanwhile, Littlefoot's Mother flung the other Fastbiters off Grandma's body using her tail. Grandpa had Fastbiters attacking his right side so he let himself fall to the right side on purpose. The ground shook as if an earthshake had just happened as Grandpa crashed on the ground, crushing the Fastbiters beneath him. Both Grandpa and the Fastbiters remained lying there, not moving at all...

The Sharptooth only saw the charging Threehorn out of the corner of his eye. A second later and she would have hit him. He used all of his strength to jump high into the air so that the mate of the old Threehorn stormed past him, missing her target. He easily landed on his feet as the Threehorn decelerated her pace. Right when she was about to turn around to start the next attack, the Sharptooth rammed his massive head into her flank causing the Threehorn to tumble to the ground. The Sharptooth let out a triumphant roar, stooped above the female Threehorn who was now frozen with fear and bit her. A monstrous wound gaped on her stomach. The Sharptooth bit her again, tearing more flesh out of her. The mate of the Threehorn yelped in pain.

The old Threehorn heard his mate's scream. He tried to reach his mate in panic, but the Fastbiters prevented him from reaching her. They even managed to drive the Threehorn back whilst one of the Fastbiters started hunting his three daughters, who were still watching their father fighting from a distance, startled. The Threehorn didn't hesitate. Determined, he chased after the Fastbiter. The others followed the Threehorn, trying to cut his back...

The Sharptooth bit a couple of pieces out of the Threehorn's mate until he was absolutely certain that she would never get in his way again. He roared another order, walking in the direction of the Longnecks but not straight...

Littlefoot's Mother killed another Fastbiter by stepping on him after she headbutted him to the ground. Mr. Clubtail, however, had been severely bitten for the first time as all of the beasts that were still able to fight suddenly rushed towards him. The big horde of them threw him to his side so that the Fastbiters could get at his underbelly.

But then the eight remaining Fastbiters realised that one of their companions just got stumped on.

They angrily let go of the visibly relieved Mr. Clubtail, charging at Littlefoot's Mother instead, although they weren't allowed to attack her.

One of them though walked to Littlefoot's Grandparents who lay on the ground, injured. He was just about to bite Grandma's tail when Grandpa beat him with his own. The beast was flung into the horde of the Fastbiters storming towards Littlefoot's Mother, hitting two of them.

Grandpa tried to get back up...

The beasts ran faster than the Threehorn. There were only six of them remaining; the rest of them were either injured or dead. Three of them jumped on the Threehorn from behind, slowing him down. The other three were after the children, who ran away, although one of the three girls started her getaway earlier.

Pterano had to spectate the happenings from above. There was nothing - absolutely nothing - he could do to help. The Threehorn's mate was dead, the children would be torn apart right before his eyes in the cruellest way imaginable. Yet an idea came to his mind...

Candy and Cara ran for their lives, but they were far too slow to escape the fast meat-eaters; their name was Fastbiter with a reason. They were caught, and their short lives were ended by a bite of the beasts.

Pterano knew that his plans were pure suicide. Nonetheless, he had to try. He also knew that the kids lagging behind couldn't be helped anymore - he was simply too far away from them - but since he couldn't save more than one kid anyway, he started to dive...

The old Threehorn shook his opponents off just in time to see that his daughters had just been eaten. An indescribable rage poured through his body, his blood boiled. Then he screamed so incredibly loud that leaves fell to the ground. It was a scream for retaliation, revenge and satisfaction in which sorrow, grief, anger and despair could be heard. All these feelings mobilized unexpected strengths in the Threehorn, adrenaline poured through his veins. He charged at one of the murderers violently pinning him to a thick tree that stood nearby. The Fastbiter was dead on impact.

Right after that, he charged at the other murderer. It was prepared on the attack though and charged at the raging Threehorn, too, and jumped...

The scream of the Threehorn and the Fastbiter sent through the air distracted the attackers by Grandpa allowing Littlefoot's Mother to trip all of them with her tail with no problems.

Grandpa made it on his feet though he felt pretty dizzy...

The Sharptooth saw the little Longneck baby.

Probably the offspring of that Longneck he thought. He walked towards the hiding place, bursting with inwardly delight. He imagined that Longneck's expression if she had to watch her son getting devoured helplessly...

The Fastbiter, who chased the Threehorn girl still alive, almost certainly had his prey. Pterano desperately tried to somehow reach the girl. As the Fastbiter just stooped opening his mouth, Pterano changed his plan in a flash. He amended his flight path, hitting the Fastbiter's eye directly. The beast howled in pain, lashing around whereby he nearly caught Pterano with his claws.

Eventually, Pterano reached the still running girl, caught her and raised her high into the sky. At first she was panicky. She screamed and struggled to free herself.

"Calm down, I will fly you to a save place," Pterano said, trying to calm her. He headed for a tree in which his nieces and nephews had flown to be safe...

The Threehorn didn't let himself get distracted by the counterattack. With a terrible impact the Threehorn threw his opponent high into the air - as high as a Longneck was tall when it straightened up to reach the highest, lushest treestars of a high and old tree like the one to which he had just pinned the other Fastbiter to. It flipped uncontrollably, rotating around its own axis. Then it crashed into the ground, landing on its spine with an awful sound. He would never harm anyone anymore.

Satisfied, the old Threehorn acknowledged his achievement; yet immediately, the sadness due to the fact that he had lost his whole family replaced his pride. He suddenly felt weaker than he ever felt in his whole life. Yet the wrath quickly prevailed over the grief, new energy recharged his strength. In thoughts of his father who had always drummed into him to stay tough, never give up and chiefly fight, he ran towards the Fastbiter that had been attacked and blinded by Pterano...

Littlefoot's Mother saw three more Fastbiters joining their companions. Quickly, she got back to her parents who weren't able to defend themselves at that very moment; Grandma still lay on the ground, not attempting to get up at all.

The Sharptooth stomped towards the little Longneck baby, who seemed to have not noticed him yet...

Littlefoot had been spectating the whole fight, scared. Since his Grandma had fallen, he even cried a little bit because he was worried that something bad had happened to her. Suddenly, he felt the ground shaking. An earthshake? Then he heard a loud stomp. Were earthshakes able to stomp? Eventually, he saw the cause of the tremor that increased to a violent shake in the meanwhile. It was a horrendous, ugly Sharptooth with a wide-open mouth and eyes as green as poison who stomped right towards him, uttering a loud roar. Littlefoot cried out for his mother but the Sharptooth ran fast...

Littlefoot's Mother and Mr. Clubtail defended the two injured elderly Longnecks bravely. Grandpa tried to help Grandma get on her feet again. After some attempts it worked, although Grandma was barely capable of standing on her feet on her own. She had lost too much blood and some of the wounds were still bleeding, though far less than when she had first gotten them.

Littlefoot's Mother just almost let a Fastbiter through because she heard a scream in the distance sounding like 'mother'. Then, she suddenly heard a familiar roar. She knew it, it was the same roar that she had heard years ago. She flung the beast through the air so that it crashed into one of his companions, and both remained laying on the ground.

She heard this scream again, this time she was sure. It was her only son who uttered the scream and her biggest enemy trying to end her son's life.

Without paying attention to the completely exhausted, feeble and discouraged Fastbiters she ran to her son...

The Sharptooth came closer and closer. He roared an important order to his fellows who lay on the ground, yet the Fastbiters remained lying there. Some were dead, almost all of them were injured, many of them weren't able to take on the leaf-eaters any more. They would rather have had to watch, and not get attacked in the first place...

He furiously directed them again. Three stood up but they didn't attack because Grandpa and Grandma were, at least theoretically, able to fight them off, meanwhile.

The Sharptooth saw his archenemy charging at him. If he caught the little one, she would beat him with her full power, and he couldn't and didn't want to let that happen. Frustrated, he changed his aim...

Pterano called the parents of his nieces and nephews sharing his plans with them.

"We need to get all of the children to safety! It's not safe here anymore and we can't protect them well enough," he reasoned.

His sister considered.

"You're right about that, Pterano. But where are they safe from those beasts?"

"Perhaps in the cave we slept in last night?" her mate suggested.

"Right!" Pterano exclaimed as if he had just invented the wheel. "It can only be reached from the air and there's some water and food."

"Pterano, you carry the little Threehorn, follow me first though!" the male Flyer ordered.

"Agreed!"

"And you, dear, will carry the Longneck," the male Flyer said, now turning to his mate.

"Yes!"

The Flyers flew to the fighting dinosaurs, Pterano with the little Threehorn on his back, which was much easier than carrying it with his claws.

Mama Swimmer was pretty worried. She hadn't heard anything of the further actions of the battle, though she honestly didn't want to know anything at all. The only thing that counted was that her family was safe. Although she likely wouldn't find more of her mate than his bones, at least the offspring were safe. She looked at her little ones who were unusually quiet. Suddenly, she noticed that one of her children, Ducky, was missing...

Part 7: Eye for an Eye, Tooth for a Tooth

Littlefoot hid behind a tree. From there, he watched as his mother slowed down right before crashing into the Sharptooth, who had his mouth wide open. Throwing her massive body against him, she rammed him causing him to crash into a tree that broke in two.

"Run, Littlefoot, RUN!" she shouted at her son.

"Where?" Littlefoot cried in fear.

She looked to her parents and Mr. Clubtail who seemed to have the situation under control.

"To your Grandparents!"

Littlefoot didn't hesitate any longer because the Sharptooth, writhing on the ground, had gotten to his feet again.

Uttering a furious roar, he charged at Littlefoot's Mother again. She evaded his attempt to ram her but she couldn't start a counterattack. The Sharptooth stomped towards her, slowly driving her away from her parents. She had to fight him all alone. One on one, only one would survive...

"I bet they're done!" Mr. Clubtail called to the two elderly Longnecks. Grandpa nodded before noticing Pterano and the two other Flyers coming, growling something.

"Longnecks!" the male Flyer called. "We're carrying all kids into this cave." He pointed in the direction of the cave.

"Where's your little one? the female Flyer questioned.

"To be honest, I don't know," Grandpa sighed. "I believe that he is either with the Swimmers or hiding somewhere."

"There he is," Mr. Clubtail remarked. At that moment, Littlefoot came running from the direction where his mother was fighting against the Sharptooth.

"Littlefoot..." Grandma exclaimed weakly and Grandpa gave her a worried glance.

"The Flyers will take you to a safe place," Grandpa told him.

"Why Grandpa?" Littlefoot questioned.

"'Cause it's too dangerous here, so come on!" the male Flyer ordered.

Littlefoot trotted to the Flyers reluctantly and climbed onto the female Flyer's back. Now, Pterano, with the Threehorn girl and Mama Flyer with Littlefoot on their backs, flew off to bring the two to the safe place.

"Where's the old, grumpy Threehorn, by the way?" Mr. Clubtail wondered.

The 'old, grumpy Threehorn' had just chased after the half-blinded Fastbiter who took refuge from the bloodthirsty Threehorn. However, he was too slow and too exhausted and the Threehorn rammed him to the ground stabbing him to death with his horns.

Littlefoot's Mother kept moving backwards. Slowly but surely, they approached the river. She used all of her courage to stay where she was. The Sharptooth also stopped. They looked deep into each other's eyes; pure hatred in their stares but neither of them wanting to make the first step...

"Shouldn't we help your daughter?" Mr. Clubtail questioned.

"I doubt that I can get there at all," Grandma whispered despairingly.

"We can't just stand around doing nothing! We must do something!" Grandpa spoke up determinedly.

"I agree," the male Flyer, who was carrying his son being incapable of flying, on his back, chimed in. "I'll try to distract this bully, you try to join her as fast as you can."

"Okay, I'll support you, dear," Grandpa said, adressing his mate.

They slowly walked in direction of the fight between the two as suddenly a choral of yelling sounded...

Littlefoot's Mother became impatient. She approached the Sharptooth unobtrusively while they circled around each other. When she eventually was close enough to start a surprising attack, she raised her tail, turned around and whipped it at the Sharptooth, catching him completely off guard. After he had recovered from the shock, he stormed forwards, striking the Longneck's left hind leg with his claws. Littlefoot's Mother suppressed the urge to let out a cry...

Meanwhile, the Fastbiters had jumped to their feet, threatening the little group. They slowly forced them to move back. None of the two parties dared another attack since both had suffered too many losses. The only aim of the beasts was to prevent the Leafeaters from reaching their boss.

"I suppose we'd better stay here," Grandpa growled.

"Right..." Grandma commented on the situation. She saw it with a laughing and a crying eye. On the one hand, she was glad that she did not need to walk all the way to fight against the Sharptooth, but on the other hand, she was aware of the huge strength of the Sharptooth. Her daughter was in a miserable situation so she silently hoped the best for her daughter.

Littlefoot's Mother raised her tail again but missed her target as the Sharptooth evaded luckily. He rammed his head against the flank of the Longneck, nearly causing her to fall. The Sharptooth was just about to take a bite out of her when something landed on his head. He tried to seize the unknown interference but the brave Flyer was already in the air again, flying some distance above his head.

Littlefoot's Mother took the opportunity to trip the perplexed Sharptooth with a vigorous swing of her tail, causing him to crash into the dirt face-first. Immediately, she tried to pull one better by striking some more on the head. Despite the blows, the Sharptooth stood up again. He jumped towards the Longneck in rage, landing at her right shoulder. His attack left deep cuts where his claws on his hands and feet drilled into her flesh in search of a foothold. Littlefoot's Mother groaned under the pain this time, but she could, however, shake off the Sharptooth, who still couldn't find a proper foothold. With a beat of her neck, her attacker found himself on the ground again but he virtually got to his feet right away. Uttering a furious roar, he started on the offensive.

The Flyer dove down to distract the beast by flying past him tightly. At that, he unfortunately underestimated its eyesight and its ability to react quickly as well as its reach.

The Sharptooth raised his arm, slashing the stomach of the Flyer who instantly crashed to the ground. He did not move at all anymore.

Now Littlefoot's Mother was the one to become furious. She showed the Sharptooth her tail whipping him brutally, causing his chest to bleed. In retaliation, the Sharptooth jumped high and landed on the Longneck's back this time. Unhesitatingly, he sank his long, razor-sharp teeth into the back of the Longneck, ripping an immensely big piece of flesh out of her.

Littlefoot's Mother gasped and howled in pain. Her vision suddenly became black. Instead of devouring more, the Sharptooth let go of her. He rammed his head into her side causing her to fall. He positioned himself above her triumphantly, a smile on his face as he looked into her fearful eyes, into these eyes whose light would lapse fade out very soon...

He didn't want to just kill and eat her, he wanted REVENGE. Instead of destroying her as fast as he could, he wanted to torture her to death. He started to inflict deep cuts and scratches into the right side of the Longneck, prolonging the pain but not killing her straight away. They would increase the suffering considerably and slow her death. He continued, doing the same to the left side. Littlefoot's Mother withstood the pain as best she could. She didn't want to grant him the last satisfaction. Minutes passed, neither of them did anything. The Sharptooth waited for the death of his enemy and thus the fullfilment of his plans for vengence. He hoped his brother would embrace his efforts to avenge his death.

Littlefoot's Mother felt less and less pain. Her last thoughts were reserved for her family. While she took her last breaths, she thought of her son as much as she could. She would watch over him, would always be there, would always protect him.

With this thought, Littlefoot's Mother died.


	11. Chapter 10:

**Chapter 10: The threat isn't over**

The Fastbiters who had kept the Longnecks and Mr. Clubtail at bay suddenly let go of the leafeaters and those, who were still able to, ran to the Sharptooth calling them.

The battle was over... the leafeaters had lost! Utterly decimated, the surviving dinosaurs retreated, away from the corpses of their friends and relatives, away from all the blood that some of them still shed from numerous injuries.

One of them was Grandma Longneck. Although she had to stand and had suffered many severe cuts and deep bites, fortunately the oozing slowly petered out. Nonetheless, she collapsed, her view became blurred.

Grandpa, who had also suffered numerous injuries - including many bruises due to his crashlanding on the Fastbiters which killed all of them without an exception, worryingly glanced at his love. Grandpa then looked to the carnivores who had meanwhile formed a circle around a big body that lay on the ground, motionless. He instantly knew whom this body belonged to. Tears built up in his eyes because this body belonged to his very own flesh and blood... his daughter...

Grandma must have had twigged that her daughter had passed because she too shed large Longneck-tears.

The little Flyer crawled dazily off his father's back. He eyed the horrendous puddle of blood on the ground and instantly knew that the eyes of his father would remain closed forever. His head hanging, the little Flyer, who was the only one of his siblings not yet able to fly, scurried away. Tears flew down his beak. He tried to find his siblings but he walked the wrong way...

"DUCKY! Ducky, where are you little one?" the mother of the missing Swimmer girl called out as loud as she could. "Where are you!?" she whined. Ducky she especially loved because she was so vivacious and smart, and her 'yep, yep, yep' and her 'no, no, no' made her special.

"Ducky, come here! It's dangerous out there!" she continued to call. No answer again. She began to search for her daughter, sighing...

Ducky, happy and light-hearted, jumped after the butterfly. She didn't realise that she was getting dangerously close to the battlefield.

A Fastbiter saw the little Swimmer creeping up...

Mama Flyer and Pterano flew to the cave they slept in last night. There, they would pick up the little ones later. They landed so that Littlefoot and the Threehorn girl could dismount. Both were totally exhausted; shocked from the Sharptooth attack. The Threehorn girl quietly wept for her two sisters and for her mother who were killed by the beasts.

"We'll be back soon!" Pterano affirmed. The two flew back to the other adults. They chatted on the way.

"Where is Petrie by the way? I thought that his father led him and the others in the cave?!"

Petrie's Mother began to fret as well, "I hope they're alright! We ought to hurry!"

"Agreed! Let's fly faster!" Pterano suggested.

Grandpa lay down next to his mate, downhearted.

"Are you awake?" he asked quietly.

"Yes!" she replied, her voice weak.

"How are you? Your injuries sure look nasty!" He was worried that Grandma may not recover from her injuries - she was quite elderly after all.

"It... hurts!" she replied in pain, "I'm not sure if I will ever get on my feet again..."

"I'm confident that you'll make it, dear," Grandpa said trying to cheer her up although he doubted that himself. "Can I be of help? Somehow?"

"Yes... I'm thirsty," Grandma answered. "I'm not sure though if I can make it to the watering hole.."

"Of course you'll make it!" Grandpa shouted sanguinely. He tried to heave his mate onto her weary feet and succeeded.

"Just lean on me. Slowly... now put one foot in front of the other," he instructed. She did as Grandpa told her.

That way the Longnecks made their way to the watering hole where they rested at night, step by step. Once there, Grandma carefully let herself fall, supported by her mate. The two drank until their stomachs were full. Grandma soon fell asleep while Grandpa protected her watchfully. After all, the beasts were still around having their lunch.


	12. Chapter 11:

**Chapter 11: Within the mouth of a Fastbiter**

Petrie heard somebody giggle. "How can one be happy in such sad times?" he wondered. Depressed, he followed the voice...

Ducky was still jumping after the butterfly when suddenly a shadow appeared. She looked up at the sky to see the ugly face of a Fastbiter who was slavering and letting out a loud roar. She uttered a shrilling cry which could be heard over the whole region and ran away, barely escaping the sharp teeth of the Fastbiter. He uttered an enraged roar and followed his dessert...

Petrie's Mother and Pterano just had arrived at the tree in which the Flyer kids hid when they heard a shrilled cry.

'That must be one of the kids!' Petrie's Mother thought before shouting. "I'll check this, you stay with the little ones Pterano!"

"Sure! Be careful sis!" he replied. Petrie's Mother flew off in the direction of the cry and soon heard a terrible roar... 'Not again,' she thought and began to hurry even more.

Petrie heard the cry and the roar as well. He looked out in the direction which the noises came from. He saw a Fastbiter not far away from his position who looked like it was chasing something - likely the kid that had laughed a few moments ago. Then he heard the cry again, this time remarkably closer. Now, he could see who the Fastbiter was chasing. A little Swimmer girl desperately flew from the beast, and it ran right at him...

Petrie saw the Fastbiters planning to jump...

"LOOK OUT!" he tried to warn the little Swimmer...

Ducky heard somebody calling turning back. What she saw made her blood freeze. The Fastbiter was just about to plung onto her. Desperately, she tried to change her path...

Petrie couldn't watch it but he couldn't run away either. Quick as lightning, the girl turned around and started running in the opposite direction. The Fastbiter crashed to the ground heavily, sliding quite a distance further. Now Petrie also began to run, following the Swimmer...

Together they ran for their lives, the Fastbiter coming closer and closer.

"FAAAASTEEEER!" the little Swimmer girl weeped in fear.

Petrie's Mother had found a heavy stone as she saw her son and a Swimmer child being chased by a Fastbiter. She tried with all her might to approach the beast...

The Fastbiter had caught up with Ducky and Petrie. He stooped and opened his mouth, snapping at the two little children. He caught them and closed his mouth. Yet, just at that moment, something hit him on the head. Petrie's Mother had hit the target though she was too late, he caught both of them. The Fastbiter tripped, fell and collapsed, blood oozing out of a gaping wound at the back of his head.

Disappointed, the Flyer landed next to the beast, tears rolling down her cheeks for the lost children. Suddenly, she heard a weak croak come out of the mouth of the Fastbiter. Snapping off a branch from a tree, she levered up the mouth of the beast. The two children instantly jumped out of it both seemingly unhurt.

Petrie immediately jumped to his mother, hugging her. He weeped bitterly, still shaken.

Ducky faired no difference, her little heart beating hectically and her breathing heavy and panicked.

"Me thought me done for," Petrie sobbed.

"It's alright my little one," his mother comforted him.

"Are you okay?" she asked the little Swimmer. Ducky started to cry.

Petrie walked to her.

"Hey, we did it! Everything be alright!" He helped the Swimmer get on her feet. She stopped crying but said nothing.

"You kids need to be brought to safety out of reach of the Sharpteeth until the grown-ups have recovered and are able to travel again," Petrie's Mother explained.

"Safety? Where?" Petrie questioned.

"There is a cave nearby, the one we slept in recently, and there is some food and water. You'll be completely safe in there. I'll fly you to the cave and I will bring your siblings there as well. You first though." She laid down so that the two could climb on her back. Ducky was still unsteady on her feet. Then she rose into the sky.


	13. Chapter 12:

**Chapter 12: Comfort Ducky!**

Littlefoot walked over to the fresh, cool water and drank from it. Cera, however, cried quietly for her deceased family members; feeling neither her hunger nor her thirst.

"Don't you wanna drink some too?" he asked politely. Cera just turned around showing him her back.

Disappointed, the little Longneck sat down on the ledge and looked out at the view of the surroundings. The place looked like the Great Valley. Everything was green, there was plenty of water and food and it was pleasantly warm. The only problem was that Sharpteeth were also able to enter the area. Littlefoot sighed. He was worried about his Grandma. After all she was severely injured...

Now the little one became startled. And where was his mother? He could see his grandparents in the distance, but his mother was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he saw something else that instantly enhanced his mood.

The Flyer, who had carried him to this place earlier, was flying towards him.

"Hopefully she'll say that everything is alright," Littlefoot thought.

As the Flyer approached, Littlefoot also saw that she was carrying two more kids on her back.

"Maybe they'll be more talkative than the Threehorn!" he thought. The two seemed to be completely distraught. The Flyer was disheveled; his whole body shaking nervously. The Swimmer girl had tears in her eyes. She was totally pale-faced and her breathing was fitful. She didn't seem all there, her mind wasn't really around..

"Well, you two," Petrie's Mother said with a calming voice. "We've arrived." She landed on the ledge. Petrie and Ducky climbed off her and lay down, clearly exhausted.

"What happened?" Littlefoot questioned. Meanwhile Cera withdrew deeper into the cave.

"They had almost been devoured by a Fastbiter," Petrie's Mother told him. "The beast already had them in its mouth as I threw a boulder on its head saving them from certain death."

"Geez!" Littlefoot exclaimed looking worried. "What about my family? What are they doing? Are they alright?"

"I don't know, little Longneck, but I'm gonna try and find out," she promised. "I don't have a clue about what happened to my mate either. Terrible thing..."

"Okay, thank you," Littlefoot thanked her but couldn't help but feel a little saddened.

"You get me siblings here now?" Petrie croaked.

"Yes! As well as the little Swimmers. I'll be right back and try to get some news about your families."

She flew back to pick up the other kids.

After a short while, the Swimmer girl started crying again. Littlefoot took pity on her. She had clearly been traumatised by her ordeal so he slowly walked over to the little girl.

"Hey! What's wrong? You're safe here," he said to her gently. Ducky, for the moment, didn't react. Her mind had started playing over the horrific event again.

Littlefoot considered how to calm her down. His family used to nuzzle him when he had been upset or weeping. 'Perhaps it'll work,' he thought. It was definitely worth a try - there was nothing else to do after all.

"It's alright, I'm here..." he whispered softly, nuzzling her. After a few minutes, Petrie joined them.

"What your name?" he stuttered.

"Me? My name's Littlefoot. What's yours?"

"My name Petrie."

"What happened to you?"

"Dad fought a Sharptooth! Sharptooth finish him off! Then Petrie search for me family! Then Petrie hear laughter! Me go to laughter but then me hear Sh-sh-sharpt-t-tooth! Me and little Swimmer girl run away! Then Sharptooth eat us but Mama saved us!"

Littlefoot was stunned. "Geez! You were lucky! That must've been horrible!"

"It was," the Swimmer sobbed.

"Well, you're safe now," Littlefoot said calming them down.

"What your name?" Petrie asked the Swimmer.

After short hesitation, she quietly whispered, "Ducky..."

"You don't have to cry Ducky. We're safe here," Littlefoot said to her.

"Yeah! No Sharptooth make it up here," Petrie added.

"I... I was so scared!" she weeped.

"Now everything's right again," Littlefoot said calmly.

"You need hug?" Petrie asked and Ducky nodded.

Littlefoot helped Ducky to get up using his tail and she hugged Petrie tightly.

"Thank you for warning me earlier," she sobbed quietly.

"Ah! You welcome!" the Flyer croaked.

Ducky slowly calmed down.

After a few minutes, she whispered quietly, "Thank you..." She hugged both of them again lovingly.

Then Littlefoot saw Petrie's Mother returning...


	14. Chapter 13:

**Chapter 13: More Tears**

The old Threehorn stormed through the whole oasis, letting out his frustration by kicking stones and uprooting trees. Eventually, he came back to the battlefield where two Fastbiters had just eaten his mate. In a fit of rage, he charged at them, skewering one with his horns. The Fastbiter collapsed to the ground and quickly died due to the loss of blood. The other one, however, was able to dodge in time.

After it had recovered from the shock, it roared savagely and tried jumping on the Threehorn. However, the great Threehorn caught it as it was sailing through the air and threw it high into the air. The Fastbiter crashed into a thick, old tree with a terrible thud, causing the Treestars to rain down.

Dimly, the Fastbiter tried to pick himself up but the Threehorn was already on top of him.

It couldn't defend itself. Cera's father speared the second Fastbiter as well, pinning him to the old tree.

Covered in blood, he leaned on another tree. His grief was now stronger than his anger so he started crying. Thick Threehorn-tears floated down his cheeks until eventually, his anger took possesion of his mind.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Petrie's Mother flew above the battlefield in order to collect information of the kids' relatives. The area was stained with blood. Half eaten corpses lay everywhere; some of their allies but some Fastbiters who also paid for their victory with their lives. Most of them either showed severe head wounds by the Longnecks and the Flyers or were stabbed by the Threehorns. Amused, she spectated the Threehorn's vengeance. 'Good!' she spured him on mentally. At least she could tell the Threehorn's girl that her father was alright. Then she eyed a huge, red nugget of flesh; the head still undamaged. She recognized the mother of the little Longneck whose father went missing after the catastrophy in the Great Valley. He would be very sad, of that she was sure.

A few moments later, she also found that what was left of the father of the little Swimmer. The little one would be heartbroken since she was pretty whiny as her mother once told her.

Still, not having heard or seen any life signs of her mate, she flew back. She didn't want to keep the children wait any longer.

Before she brought the remaíning kids to the cave she had had a little talk with Littlefoot's Grandparents.

"Everything alright?" she asked as she saw Grandma.

"Grandma is quite weak and I'm quite elderly, too," Grandpa sighed.

"I really hope that she'll recover from that... if not, you'd have to take care of your grandson all alone!"

"Yeah... His mother..." he interrupted bursting into tears.

"I know... I just saw her from above, my heart is broken... And his father seems to have disappeared..."

"Yes, we lost each other during the escape from the ash cloud. He didn't want to accept that it was impossible so he tried to flee while we had waited, keeping our heads low to be safe of the ash rain. We haven't heard of him since then."

"Poor you. The Threehorn lost his whole family except for one of his daughters. He's just 'hunting'!"

"Yeah, he's always been that way..."

"Anyway, have you seen my mate?"

"I suppose he didn't make it. The big Sharptooth must have caught him, otherwise he would have returned. He helped my d... " he interrupted again.

"Oh no... th-that's ... horrible!" she whined.

"My condolences..." Grandma whispered just having woken up.

"Same goes to you, my dears. Hold on valiantly! I need to fly some kids to safety until we all have recovered."

"Yeah. See you," Grandpa replied.

She flapped to Pterano.

"He didn't make it," she shouted from the distance. Pterano did the only right thing namely hugging her.

"Children..." she called quietly. "Your daddy has... passed on..."

Instantly, Petrie's siblings began to cry..

"You carry them to the cave as soon as they're able to head there!" she ordered Pterano. "I'll carry the Swimmer's children."

"Agreed. It's alright my little ones. Uncle Pterano is here..."

Petrie's Mother just bandied for some time with Ducky's Mother. As she eventually told her kids that their father wouldn't ever return, a terrible chorus of crying started. It needed a lot of effort to persuade the little ones to come along.

Finally, when all were aboard, Petrie's Mother flew off, carrying the weeping children to the others in the safe cave.

As Ducky heard her siblings, she already assumed what must have happened. Littlefoot and Petrie were visibly tense.

"I've got bad news for you three," she told them glumly.

"Petrie, your father..." she began to sob, "your father, little one; and your mother, little one..."

Ducky threw herself on the floor starting to cry like a little baby.

Littlefoot shouted, "NO!" in disbelief, again and again. He curled up and started to cry, notably quieter than Ducky.

"Me already know..." Petrie whispered hugging his mother.

"Petrie... I gotta go! I'm very sorry!" she sobbed, flying off.

"Your uncle will bring the others later!" she shouted from far away, then she disappeared...


	15. Chapter 14:

**Chapter 14: Mourning**

As Cera heard the chorus of weeping, she became curious. The blubbering of the Swimmer kids was getting on her nerves so she thought she would calm them down with her very own method...

Petrie shuffled over to a stone, laid down on it and curled his arms around it, sobbing.

Ducky was screaming after her mommy, her desperate cries mixed with the wailing even drowned her eleven other siblings.

Littlefoot cried to himself quietly and sobbed repeatingly, "Mother..."

None of them even considered comforting each other...

Half an hour later, most of the Swimmer kids were still snivelling though they were far quieter than earlier. Cera, unobtrusively, walked closer to the others, munching a few leaves without having any appetite.

Ducky was the only one still weeping loudly, Petrie had recovered to a degree and Littlefoot cried in silence. Petrie walked slowly over to Ducky. He felt so sorry for the little Swimmer girl. He watched her for a while, too shy to actually talk to her.

Ducky thumped her little hands and feet on the hard, rocky ground beginning to scream again,"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Littlefoot couldn't listen any longer, he had to do something to calm her. He slowly went over to the little one and began nuzzling her. Ducky heaved herself up and hugged one of Littlefoot's legs.

After some minutes, Petrie joined him and stroked Ducky who was still blubbering slightly. The heartbroken girl now hugged Petrie who began to weep again, too.

After half an hour, they finally calmed down as well as Ducky's siblings who got progressively quieter.

Cera returned to the others.

"Hey guys!" she called hoping to find some cool friends since her siblings were deceased.

"Hello Threehorn," Littlefoot responded. "I'm Littlefoot! Who are you?"

"Name's Cera!" she replied.

"Me name Petrie!" Petrie croaked.

"Ducky!" the Swimmer sobbed smeared in tears. She wiped them out of the face but instantly new ones wetted her cheeks again.

"Why are we supposed to wait here?!" Cera moaned. "I wanna be with my daddy!"

"I want to be with my mommy, too, yep, yep, yep!" Ducky sobbed hugging Petrie again.

"Me wanna, too," Petrie sighed.

"Mmmhmm," Littlefoot nodded, agreeing. He thought of his dad again. Where was he? Tears streamed down his cheeks dropping on the could relate to Ducky, who weeped all the time now. Dragging himself to Ducky and Petrie he cuddled with them. Laying down next to them, he started weeping too.

The children's crestfallen weeping continued throughout the whole day... Ducky cried the whole time, Petrie mostly did the same, although a little quieter and Littlefoot constantly sobbed, "Mother..."

Cera lied some distance away from the three.

In the evening, Petrie's Mother brought the children some Treestars but neither of them touched them. Petrie was comforted by his mother, Ducky joined her siblings who tried to get some sleep without their parents but to no avail. The little Swimmers were quite restless which made it even harder for all the other kids to get to sleep themselves. Littlefoot had curled up into a little hollow, still weeping silently. Cera retreated far into the cave since the Swimmers made so much noise. Besides, she didn't want to get caught weeping in front of the others.

After Petrie's Mother had flown off, Petrie walked to his siblings who had just arrived at the cave with her, his head down. He got up and left the group; the nearby Swimmers were crying too loud for his liking. After a quick look around, he eventually eyed Ducky and starting walking to her. Ducky had curled up with her back to everyone. At first glance, Petrie thought that she was already asleep but then he noticed a little tear roll down her cheek. He again remained standing on the spot, not daring to utter a single word. Eventually, he summoned his courage.

"Ducky? Petrie can sleep here?" the Flyer questioned shyly.

Ducky sluggishly turned to Petrie.

"Oh, yes Petrie!" she sobbed, "but not here, please. Let us find a calm spot, yep, yep, yep."

"That good," Petrie confirmed. "Brothers and sisters remind me of what happened too much."

"I know what you mean. I feel the same way too," Ducky confirmed.

Petrie offered Ducky his hands to help her up since the constant weeping had taken all of Ducky's strength.

"Where you wanna heading?" Petrie asked.

"Perhaps.. to Littlefoot?" she proposed.

"That good idea but where he is?"

"Hmm, I believe he went that way, yes he did," she said and pointed at one of the two passages.

"Then we go deeper into cave."

Ducky was right. A few moments later they spotted the Longneck.

"Littlefoot? Can we sleep with you?" Ducky questioned quietly.

"Oh yeah, of course. Come in please," he replied, glad that he didn't need to spend the night all alone. Ducky cuddled up with Littlefoot's neck and Petrie laid down next to her.

After a few minutes they fell asleep...


	16. Chapter 15:

**Chapter 15: Nightmares**

None of the kids were able to sleep much and the adults were the same...

Throughout the night everyone was stirring restlessly. At least one of the Swimmer kids, occasionally joined by one of the Flyer kids, was weeping so they woke up each other again and again. Cera tossed around in her sleeping spot repeatedly, being unable to fall asleep. Littlefoot, Petrie and Ducky didn't sleep too well either. Ducky, in particular, had bad sleepstories all the time; dreams of the Sharptooth that almost had Petrie and her for dinner. They kept replaying over and over again.

Each time one of the kids twitched and jerked out of a bad sleepstory, it woke up several kids too.

Ducky always woke up Petrie and Littlefoot and then began to weep bitterly, occasionally screaming and crying out for her parents. Fortunately, she was so tired that she fell asleep quite quickly again.

Yet, when the night was close to its end, she had a different sleepstory. She dreamed of her mother being feasted on right before her eyes. This time her rolling and her whining woke them all up.

Littlefoot and Petrie exchanged clueless glances. The little Flyer tried to stroke the little girl but failed since Ducky was way too restless. Her whining increased in volume and she started to kick around.

Cera heard Ducky. Being fed up listening to the never-ending blaring, she stood up and walked to the source of the noice to make them shut up...

All of a sudden, Ducky uttered a disturbed screech continuing as she woke up.

Finally, after a few terrible seconds, she realised that she was safe in the cave so her cries faded away. Still in shock, she remained lying on the ground, breathing heavily. Seeing just how terrified the little Swimmer was, Petrie wrapped his arm around her shoulders delicately. Ducky latched onto the embrace like a frightened newborn and quivered in his grasp. Petrie was alarmed as he felt Ducky heart thumping hard and fast against his own chest as she held onto him.

Petrie and Littlefoot needed some time to recover from the fright themselves. Littlefoot glanced at little Ducky, worried. She almost seemed unconscious.

"Ducky? You alright?" Petrie asked timidly, shaking on her shoulder softly.

"Ducky!" Littlefoot shouted remarkably louder and pushed her a bit harder but the Swimmer remained motionless.

"Me worried!" the Flyer told Littlefoot, he seemed to like Ducky.

"Me too!" Littlefoot confirmed. "Do you see how thin she is, Petrie?"

"Yeah! Petrie see it very good!" he answered despite being thin himself. "Petrie think she not ate for long time."

"Just like us," Littlefoot sighed. Even he had never experienced hunger this strong before in his life. "She needs something to eat and fast."

"Me Mommy had brought many treestars and other yummy stuff," Petrie announced quickly.

"That's gr... " Littlefoot broke off as an extremely loud bellow shook the cave.

"SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" Cera shouted with all her might. The shout was so loud, it even made the weeping Swimmer and Flyer kids fall silent. It didn't last long however since now everyone was wide awake and began crying even harder with fear. Cera's bellowing even woke up Ducky though she was still in a fantasy world of her own so she hadn't realised anything that had happened around her. Even Littlefoot and Petrie hadn't realised she had woken up...

"...great..." Littlefoot eventually finished his sentence.

"What that?" Petrie questioned shakily.

"That was Cera..." the Longneck replied. Petrie was just about to comment when an unexpected event took its course...


	17. Chapter 16:

**Chapter 16: Another Catastrophy**

Suddenly, the ground began to shake.

"EARTHSHAKE!" the kids cried in a panic. Despite the fact that it wasn't as strong as the earthshake that hit when the Great Valley shuddered, stones fell down from the ceiling nonetheless. Cera, Littlefoot, who grabbed Ducky, and Petrie darted deeper into thecave while the Swimmers stepped back to the edge of the ledge. The Flyers took to the air where it was safest for them.

Those grown-ups, who weren't awake already, woke up trying to keep a safe distance from the trees that could fall on them. Yet there was another threat especially dangerous for the Threehorn...

The kids ran as fast as they could. Light became rarer in the cave but the rain of little stones wouldn't diminish.

"What's that growling?!" Cera shouted.

"Sounds like the one in the Great Valley. Oh no, no, nooooo!" Ducky croaked but only Littlefoot, who carried her, could understand her. The Swimmer had sobered up to the real world due to the heavy rumbling.

"Me no understand what Ducky saying," Petrie called.

"Yeah. What did she say Littlefoot?" Cera asked.

"She said that it sounds the same as the Great Valley!" Littlefoot responded sounding worried.

"Ducky right!" Petrie croaked.

"Hey, that means that... OOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUCH!" Cera howled in pain as a sharp Stonetooth (stalaktite) broke off the ceiling and pierced her back...

Just a few steps away from the old Threehorn, a rift opened, spitting out reddish glowing fire into the air. He roared in fear and ran off bearly escaping being licked by the flames.

Grandpa and Grandma had chosen their resting spots wisely and did not lie close to any big trees. Still, Grandpa realised that the ground started getting warm despite it being night.

"Ohh no... Not again!" he said desperately. "Can you walk dear?" he asked Grandma. "We need to escape from this place quickly!"

"I'm not sure," she replied weakly.

"Please try! The ground is getting warm. I think a fire pit or a whole smoking mountain is going to erupt!" Grandpa said anxiously as he supported Grandma. She got to her feet with some difficulty. Slowly and carefully they retreated from the firepit that was growing throughout the whole region. All the while, huge tongues of fire leapt into the air from miles away.

Ducky's Mother and the other Great Valley residents, plus a few others who weren't close to the battlefield at the time of the attack, flew back to the Big Water since the gap cut them from the land side. They escorted the two Longnecks but they moved pretty slow in comparison. A few moments later, the old Threehorn caught up with them . Aside from a few burns, he was relatively unhurt.

"Wonderful! 'Nother lush and green place that falls victim to the fire from the ground!" he called.

"These things are indeed curious!" Mr. Clubtail piped up.

"At least we aren't being threated by a cloud of ash this time!" Ducky's Mother said somewhat relieved.

"Instead we're being threated by a huge fire. Possibly by a river of fire too!" Cera's father retorted grimly. There was indeed a huge fire behind them. The rift seemed to widen up as the wall of fire was being thrown out of it becoming wider and higher.

"Where are the Flyers?!" he bellowed.

"Maybe they're just picking up our children," Grandpa considered.

"Oh no! Our kids..." Ducky's Mother cried.

"I'm confident that they're safe for the time being," Grandma said trying to calm their worries.

"Yes, the cave is far enough from the fire pit!" Grandpa added.

"All fine and dandy Longneck, but the cave could have caved in due to the earthshake!" theThreehorn retorted.

"Let's hope for the best!" Grandma pleated since she saw another dispute between the hagglish Threehorn and her mate coming.

The Threehorn didn't return anything on that...

Since the Flyers felt responsible for the herds' children and specially since their own children were at risk, they flew - as the others had hoped and expected them to do - to the cave to rescue the little ones. Pterano and Petrie's Mother saw their little ones flapping around from a distance outside of the cave entrance. Glancing into the cave, they could see a green muddle of bodies milling around. The Swimmer kids were safe, too. However, there was no sign of the young Threehorn and Longneck. They quickly realised that Petrie and one of the Swimmers were missing as well.

"They ran that way!" one Swimmer told them as it saw the panicked glances of the two Flyers pointing to the path where Littlefoot, Petrie, Cera and Ducky had fled. It was partually caved in and almost impassible. With every tremor, more of the ceiling collapsed.

"We can't go after them," Petrie's Mother said hectically as Pterano attempted to go deeper into the cave.

"Arrgh, you're right, I suppose!" he sighed contritely.

"We need to get the children out of here. Each of us will carry one half of the little Swimmers, agreed?"

Pterano nodded. The little ones climbed on their backs, the Flyer kids accompanied their relatives.

Then, a few moments after they had risen into the air, a huge earthshake struck the region...


	18. Chapter 17:

**Chapter17: The Stranger/Trapped in the Cave**

A lot of blood oozed out of the wound. The sharp rock had torn deep into Cera's back. Littlefoot pulled it out of the wound causing Cera to utter a yelp. Her legs became weak and she sunk to the ground.

"Cera! You no must give up!" Petrie squawked.

"You can make it, yep, yep, yep!" Ducky tried to get to her feet again, tortured by the pain. Then, the earthshake suddenly hit them witheven more force...

The Flyers made it to the others. Everyone pulled themselves through the earthshake; even Grandma managed to keep her foothold. Gathering at the beach, the herd listened to what the Flyers had to announce.

"Four children are missing!" Petrie's Mother shouted from a distance.

"Where's Cera?!"the old Threehorn threatened.

"Each of them is a different kind!" Pterano spoke up. "They ran into the cave while the other children were waiting for us on the ledge of this cave where they were safe!"

"So why didn't ya follow them?!" the Threehorn thundered.

"First, because all of them together would have been too heavy! Second, because the path they chose to flee has collapsed for the most part!" Pterano replied cooly. "The path will probably be impassable after that heavy earthshake!"

"Oh no..." Ducky's Mother whined.

"On top of that, a huge rift has opened and is throwing up lots of fire. It's too dangerous to head to the cave for now," Petrie's Mother added.

"I consider it best if we wait until the situation passes and calms down," Grandpa proposed.

Just then, a Bignose stepped into the circle that the grown-ups had formed.

"You'll have to wait a fair while until the fire from out of the earth stops."

Immediately, agitation and anxiety erupted among the dinosaurs.

"Oh yeah!?" the Threehorn ranted. "Who are ya and what gives you the right to disturb us with your talltales!?"

"Stay calm, Threehorn. My intention is NOT to disturb you or to 'lie' to you as you insinuate. It's quite the contrary actually. I want to warn you."

"As if we haven't already endured enough catastrophies and threats," someone hissed behind their backs.

"Warn us from what? 'Nother pack of starving Fastbiters?" Cera's Father questioned, bored. Grandpaand Grandma exchanged meaningful glimpses.

"Once the land that I called home since I hatched was a lush and green place," he spoke."Yet everything began to change... Earthshakes piled up as well as many other things, strange andimpossible to explain... watering holes dried up, the ground became cracked. Whole region seemedto raise and sink plus the ground was quite warm."

"It has been the same with our homeland," Grandpa exclaimed.

"I assumed that. Anyway, one day a terrible earthshake happened. I was some distance away fromit at that time, luckily, so I only came up with a fright. I was told that countless dinosaurs had died because of it so I moved to where the catastrophy was said to be worst. I was shocked by the sight."

"He's an advanced story-teller," Grandma whispered into Grandpa's ear. Grandpa had been a story-teller himself in his younger years; telling stories to other dinosaurs whilst roaming the open world.

"Where there was once land, was now water. A wide, water-filled rift had appeared out of nowhere, it looked like a scar in the landscape."

"Pah! He lived close to the Big Water for sure!" the Threehorn rumbled.

"By no means, my friend. The Big Water was a good few days' walk away."

"Humpff! He's lying, anyway!" he snorted.

"Ahem... I'll continue... Shortly after the earthshake, fire mountains and fire pits appeared everywhere, completely destroying the land. I searched desperately for a way out of this cursed regionyet Ihad to notice that the rift had cut a big part of the region."

"What did you do?" Mr. Clubtail asked, interested.

"I swam. Nearly got eaten by a Swimming Sharptooth though!"

"Was did you do next?" Ducky's Mother questioned, excited.

"Well, I travelled through the land hoping to meet someone able to explain what had happened. Many Cold Times had passed until I finally encountered two Rainbowfaces knowing the answers to my qustions. Though they weren't willing to tell them at first. Eventually..."

"Get to the point!" the Threehorn bellowed. "We have better things to do than to listen to your pathetic story!"

"Oh really?" the Bignose asked challanging. "Examples?"

"We... uuhm..." the Threehorn stuttered, clearly cornered. "We... well.. uhm... we need to find our kids!"

"Alright... so the Rainbowfaces had told me that these events were only the beginning of a hugecatastrophy that will change our world for good. The land will be cut up, the parts escaping from each Big Water will grow!"

"And what happens when they arrive at the end of the world, clever dig?!" the Threehorn retorted inanger.

"Our world has no edge, it has no end. We live on a globe. Didn't you all know that?"

"YOU WANNA TAKE THE PISS OUT OF ME?! Cera's Father thundered. "Stop disturbing us with yourcrazy stories and GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

"I'm telling the truth!" the Bignose protested.

"I have to admit that this is hard to swallow," Grandpa said sounding really apologetic.

"Our world is a huge land surrounded by lots of water! Period!" the Threehorn roared.

"That's a misconception! Our world is a globe! I can show you!"

"Our world... a globe... pah!" the Threehorn mumbled to himself though everyone heard what he's just said. "Right! Prove it, smart aleck!"

"Don't be so stubborn Threehorn!" Grandpa reminded him.

"He's just trying to offer help but you're being so unfriendly!" Grandma criticised.

"Longnecks..." he grumbled stomping away from them.

"Well, just ignore him. We've been through a lot and our kids might be in danger. He's always like that if something's wrong with his family but once you break his hard shell he'll show his soft side,"Grandpa explained.

"We'll see," the Bignose sighed.

"Anyway, you wanted to prove that you're right!" Grandma reminded him.

"Of course. Follow me to the Big Water."

The dinosaurs walked to the beach, so did the Threehorn.

"If you were right Threehorn, then you could see things that are very very far away - if the air isn't foggy, that is. However, you can't see very far even though the air is very clear today with no doubt. One can see that the water surface is bent," the stranger explained blow-by-blow.

"Yes, I see it very clearly," Grandpa exclaimed. Though surprised, he had some large doubts about the stranger which he, other than the mulish Threehorn, didn't say loud.

The others seemed to be skeptical at first but then they too realised the bending of the water surface. As the very last dinosaur, after he had examined everything a few times, even Cera's Father agreed: "Well, I believe I owe you a big apology," he said shamefully.

"It's alright, you're not the first dinosaur to considered me a swindler."

"May I ask what your name is stranger?" Grandma asked. "I suppose you'll stay with us now?"

"The name's Oscar! There's safety in numbers therefore I will join your herd for the time being. I suppose your herd has been together for quite some time now?"

"Some of us have lived together for many years now," Petrie's Mother explained.

"Yeah, and others, like you, are gathered here to escape the fire. We'll all be a herd from this moment on. We will help each other where ever possible and we will discuss important things together," Grandpa spoke strongly.

The four young dinosaurs could swear that the whole cave jumped up and down... They were thrown back and forth so violently that Cera blacked out.

Then, suddenly, the ceiling behind them crashed down completely. Littlefoot had almost been hit on the head by a big boulder he could barely dodge.

"We have to get out of here!" Littlefoot cried to his friends after he had gotten to his feet again.

"Yeah, but how we get outta here?" Petrie asked.

"Why we climb up the many rocks, silly!" Ducky explained. She seemed to have completely recovered from her earlier nightmare.

"Me wonder Cera gonna make it?" Petrie squawked worryingly. Cera lay on the ground, her eyes closed and her wound bleeding.

"Cera! Cera! Please get up! We need to get out of here before the cave collapses completely!" Littlefootshouted but Cera didn't react.

"Cera, we must go now, yes we must!" Ducky said shaking Cera's head.

"What we do now?" Petrie questioned.

"Well, we can't leave her behind!" Littlefoot exclaimed. Ducky and Petrie nodded eagerly.

"We do not leave anyone behind, nope, nope, nope!" Ducky chirped.

"Petrie no leave anyone behind neither!" the Flyer croaked.

"But we can't carry her!" Littlefoot sighed.

"Petrie have idea!" Petrie exclaimed. He climbed on Cera's horn and lifted her right eyelid.

"Cera, now no snoozing time!" he squawked with all his jerked up sinking to the ground again instantly due to her pain.

"That was a good idea, Petrie!" Ducky lauded.

"You really think so?" Cera asked ironically. She had a terrible pain though she tried to downplay it. Her pride didn't allow her to show weakness.

"Cera, we need to get out of here! The cave's collapsing!" Littlefoot shouted.

"Yes, we must get out, we must, we must!" Ducky gabbled.

"If we don't, we be squished!" Petrie squeaked acting as if he gets squished.

"Hehehehe! You are funny Petrie!" Ducky chuckled.

"Yeah, veeery amusing!" Cera grunted sarcastically.

"Do you think that you can make it up there?" Littlefoot asked pointing at the upward 'stairway' built

when the cave had partly collapsed.

"Sure! That's a stupid question!"Cera snorted showing off. She tried to get up which was trickier thanshe thought. Eventually, she succeeded, her wound still bleeding a little.

"You sure you can make it?" Petrie asked fretfully since Cera was pretty shaky on her legs.

"S-sure!" she grunted laboriously. Cera suddenly felt very dizzy. Everything was moving in circles and her vision became blurry. Her legs began to shake.

"I do not think that she can make it, ohh no, no, no," Ducky muttered quietly.

"She looks like she's gonna pass out again," Littlefoot shrugged her shoulders.

Finally, Cera collapsed again. This time nobody dared attempting to wake her...


	19. Chapter 18:

**Chapter 18: Who's the leader?/How to help Cera!**

Everyone agreed one that. The Great Valley residents that had survived and some other residents of the oasis being in flames and flooded by lava as well as visitors like Oscar were from now on a herd.

The question was: Who'd be the leader?

"Well, so we're a temporary herd now but who'll lead us?" Oscar questioned.

"Well..." Pterano considered loudly.

"I'm gonna lead this herd!" Cera's Father proclaimed. "I'm the toughest dinosaur around!" Confident of victory, he looked into the gathered dinosaurs.

"I stated that we will deliberate things, no matter of the situation!"Grandpa reminded him. "We don't need a leader for this! Anyhow, you may fend off any Sharpteeth that dare to attack us alongside me! I don't think anybody will disagree on that we two are the strongest members!"

"Nope! I'm stronger than you, Longneck!" the Threehorn replied.

"This is of no significance, my friend!" Grandpa shed light upon the Threehorn yet he ranted furtherly.

"Oh yes! It quite is!"

"Now don't start out another argument!" Grandma sighed desperately. The Threehorn gradually drove her nuts.

"Yes, we need to find my little Ducky, remember!" Ducky's Mother confirmed.

"As well as the little Flyer, my nephew and your daughter, Threehorn!" Grandpa added.

Cera's Father grunted something along the lines of 'agreed'.

"Works!" Grandma muttered.

"Why, if you consider yourself so much better than me, don't you make a suggestion!" he provoked Grandpa who, in contrary to everyone, didn't roll his eyes throwing unappreciative glares at the singularly hot-headed Threehorn but stayed cool.

"We will have to find an entry into that cave to pick our children out of it!"

"But how do you imagine this to work?" Oscar questioned. "I mean, even, if I'm proven wrong that the fire outta the ground won't stop in the near future, we plainly can't climb up the ledge!"

"Yeah, good point though I thought of another, better possibility!" Grandpa replied.

"Shall I move to that cave and look out for potentual entries?" Pterano offered.

"Yeah! Make yourself useful!" Cera's Father shouted in an unfriendly way.

"That's the idea, Pterano! We will wait until you return!" Grandpa spoke up.

"Okay!" Pterano flew off.

The dinosaurs disperged into the nearby region. Littlefoot's Grandparents, Ducky's and Petrie's Mothers and Oscar gathered at the Big Water. The water and the chilly wind were exceedingly refreshing for the exhausted dinosaurs.

"How do you guys actually plan to get into the cave? I doubt that the paths can be passed!" Oscar asked.

"The smaller members of our herd will search through the cave, if Pterano spots another entry, that is!" Grandpa answered.

"I hope, that nothing bad occured to my Ducky!" Ducky's Mother sobbed hysterically.

"Calm down, my dear!" Grandma supported her. "They're probably doing well!"

"Yep! Be confident, my brother is going to find a way into this cave!" Petrie's Mother affirmed.

"Our children are not stupid after all!" Grandpa stated encuragingly. "They probably know what to do!"

"May I ask how old your children are?" Oscar questioned.

"They had hatched when the last Cold Time was almost over!" Grandma responded.

"Fairly young, if you ask me!" he hummed.

"That's right! Though they're quite smart considering their age! You should have heard my Littlefoot when the catastrophy at our former home was in its offing! He had realized that we adults were constantly worried. Hence, he had tried to convince us that the numerous earthshakes are funny!"

Everyone had to smirk due to Grandpa's short story.

"Now, that indeed shows that your children are mentally fit!" Oscar admitted.

"Might be the wealth of food that our home had offered us!" Petrie's Mother presumed.

"And the care and love of us parents of course!" Ducky's Mother added enthusingly.

"You forgot the most important point!" Grandma grinned. "They could play and grow up in harmony there!"

"How come? Ain't there any Sharpteeth or Eggnappers?" Oscar wondered.

"Lots of them!" Ducky's Mother shouted.

"Our valley was save from any Sharpteeth due to the huge wall that surrounded it!" Petrie's Mother responded. "And Eggstealers usually didn't dare to get close to our nests since a lot of dinosaurs used to live on a fairly little amount of space so the theft would have been noticed in time likely!"

"From the sounds of it, it must've been quite a paradise!" he wowed.

"The worser that we'll never be able to return!" Grandma said bitterly.

The others nodded in agreement.

"What do we do now?" Littlefoot wondered.

"Me no know!" Petrie responded, sighing.

"We need to do something, yep, yep, yep!" Ducky shouted in worry.

"What?" Littlefoot weared down his head.

Petrie had an idea: "Me climb up there! Then me can see what grown-ups do!"

"That's a good idea, Petrie!" Littlefoot exclaimed.

"Yep,yep, yep!" Ducky gabbled and jumped from one leg to the other.

Petrie climbed the 'stairway' built of the incaved ceiling. Luckily, the boulders had broken into small pieces so the Flyer, since incapable of flying, climbed up the stairs without big difficulties.

While Petrie climbed, Ducky and Littlefoot were having a talk.

"What was wrong with you last night by the way, Ducky?"

"I do not know that, nope, nope, nope! I was having scary sleep-stories!"

"Well, right before the earthshake had started you cried out very very heavy! Then you collapsed!"

"I do not know why that has happened, no, no, no! I have dreamed that my Mommy..." She broke off her eyes watering.

"It's alright, Ducky! I'm with you!" Littlefoot comforted the little Swimmer girl and nestled against her. "T-thank you!" she sobbed, "We are friends, right?"

"Sure! You're funny, Ducky!"

"Yaaay! You are funny, too, Littlefoot! Yep, yep, yep!" The tears disappeared, Ducky was happy again.

"Hmm, I wish we could help Cera now!" Littlefoot sighed.

"I wish that, too!"

"The wound's pretty nasty! It must hurt heftily!"

"Ohh yes! My sister once has stepped on a stone in the water that had plenty of spiky, stinging thorns. She had them stuck in her foot and everywhere was blood. My Mommy had sucked on her foot. Because she said we always have to do that if someone steps on a spiked-stone because they are poinonous!"

"Uhm.. but why do we have to suck the poison?"

"I do not know! But my Mama is always right, she is, she is!"

"Mine is..." Littlefoot swallowed hard, "was always right, too!"

This time Ducky comforted Littlefoot by hugging his foot.

"It's alright... keep on with your story!"

"Okay! After that she had licked the injury and then she had bandaged it with special leaves. She said that we must do that because the injury must be clean and dirt must not have contact to the wound!"

"Why's that?"

"I guess we must do it because the wound will heal faster, yep, yep, yep!"

"Right, that means we should lick Cera's injury clean and cover it with leaves!?"

"I think so!"

"Okay, call Petrie and tell him to bring some leaves if possible!"

"Will do!"

"I clean her injury!"

Ducky called out for Petrie who nearly had reached the top imparting him the new task.

"You help Petrie?" Petrie squeaked from above.

"I will ask Littlefoot, I will, I will!"

"Okay!"

Littlefoot licked Cera's wound clean. Although Cera's blood tasted terrible, Littlefoot did it not moaning at all since he knew that this low service could make a difference whether Cera would survive or die.

Then Ducky hopped to him.

"Littlefooooooot?"

"What is it, Ducky?"

"Can I help Petrie? He asked-ed me, he did!"

"Sure! But hurry, please!"

"Okay!"

Ducky hopped back to Petrie while Littlefoot continued licking Cera's wound clean.

"Petrie, Petrie!"

"So? You allowed to help Petrie?"

"Yep, yep, yep! Though we should hurry!"

"Okay! Me know about it!"

Ducky climbed up to where Petrie who had arrived at the top in the meantime was quickly.

"Can you see our parents, Petrie?"

"No! Me only see fire everywhere, ohohohhhhhhh!"

"Me too!"

Both were frustrated that their parents where nowhere to be seen.

"Me wanna cuddle with me Mama!" Petrie whined.

"Yeah, I miss my Mommy very much!" Ducky agreed.

The two youngsters fell silent for a few moments. They moved closer together to send comfort to each other and listened to their thoughts whereby they spectated the eruption of the fire pit.

"It looks so beautiful!" Ducky eventually whispered.

"Yeah, it nice but it also spooooooooky!" Petrie replied.

"Yep, yep, yep!"

They were silent for some time again.

"Oh no!"

"What it, Ducky?"

"We totally forgot to look for leaves, oh no, no, no, no, no!"

"Me no see any green stuff, anywhere!"

"I neither see anything! Cera really needs these leaves!"

"But how you gonna do that?"

"I do not know!"

"Hmm, then we go to Littlefoot?"

"You better stay up here, Petrie, because if we have to climb to the top again you don't have to climb the whole thing again!"

"You right, Ducky! Then Petrie wait here!"

"Yep, yep, yep!"

Ducky climbed down to where Littlefoot was who had removed all the dirt from Cera's injury meanwhile to announce the bad news...


	20. Chapter 19:

**Chapter 19: Pterano's no Luck/ Exploring**

First of all, Pterano flew to the ledge where he and his sister dropped off the children. The vegetation was burning everywhere, rivers of fire were shoving through the region heavily. Dozens of fire spouts of varying height and width shot out of the underground not far away from him.

"No ash, at least!" the experienced Flyer thought landing on the ledge. He looked whether the paths could be passed or not. The one the four kids had used was covered with lots of rubble but it was still passable for smaller dinosaur kinds like his. The tension let his heart beat faster, his knees were shaking slightly. Pterano climbed into the path laboriously...

After a few minutes though he found himself standing in front of a huge rockslide. The partly huge boulders built a massive wall. "No way through!" he sighed, the disappointment could be read in his beakened face. "Then I must discover another entrance! Pterano climbed out of the cave. Outside, he streched his wings, started and flew away...

Littlefoot looked around observantly. He wondered if there would be anything interesting to be discoved deeper in the cave. After some time, he noticed a tiny side path. He evaluated whether he should wait for the others or explore the path on his own. Just, as he had decided for the latter, he heard Ducky jumping down the boulders. He approached her.

When Ducky noticed that Littlefoot was heading toward her, she came to a standstill. "Does Cera feel better?" she asked.

When Littlefoot arrived by the Swimmer, he replied: "Not really! At least I cleaned her injury!"

"Ohhh! I hope she will be fine soon, yep, yep, yep!"

"Petrie hope so, too!" Petrie squawked having jumped down a few boulders to be included to the talk.

"Me too! You seeked out anything?" Littlefoot questioned.

"We no finded anything!" Petrie sighed.

"Yep, yep, yep! We find-ed neither our parents nor green food, oh no!" Ducky confirmed.

"That's not good!" Littlefoot cursed, "Cera's injury needs to be covered with something!"

"Littlefoot right!" Petrie croaked.

After a short, awkward moment of silence Littlefoot spoke up.

"Come down here you two! Let's explore this place a bit!"

"Oohhh, Petrie had already enough adventures today!" Petrie retorted.

"But Petrie!" Ducky shouted, "Maybe, we track down another exit, yep, yep, yep!"

"My thoughts exactly!" Littlefoot declared. "I discovered a side path... though it's a narrow and dark one, we should check it!"

"Count me in, please, please, please!" Ducky chattered excitedly.

"Petrie... no know!" the Flyer said.

"Come, Petrie!" Ducky begged, "Nothing bad will happen to you as long as I am by your side!" She made a sweet face.

"Do it for Cera! Littlefoot adviced.

"Alright! Me come along!" Petrie gave up.

"Yaaaaaaay!" Ducky cried with joy.

"Great!" Littlefoot exclaimed, "Let's go then! In here!"

Littlefoot passed the small hole behind which a fairly big and wide path was. Ducky and Petrie followed him coming to a standstill after a few steps.

"It pretty dark!" Petrie shivered.

It was pretty dim indeed so that their eyes had to get used to the sudden rareness of light first. When they were able to see again, they continued their way deeper into the cave. At that, they walked slow and careful since there was rubble everywhere that was difficult to spot in the darkness.

The path became more narrow after a while and none of them talked, not even Ducky. They only did if one of the three spotted an obstacle.

After some minutes, the path divided into three.

"Oh no! What do we do now?!" Ducky asked, worried.

"Well, seems as if we need to separate!" Littlefoot answered being somewhat clueless.

"Petrie no want to be separated from you, no, no!" Petrie shouted anxiously.

"Don't be such a scaredy-egg, Petrie!" Littlefoot shouted, annoyed. He rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Petrie! You are completely safe because we are all alone here! Yes we are!" Ducky encouraged him.

"You s-s-sure?" Petrie asked self-consciously.

"Of course! How can someone get in?"

"Maybe there is another entrance!" Ducky guessed. "But that would mean that me might not be alone... ohh nooooooo!"

"Yeah, but that's ... unlikely!" Littlefoot quickly added to convince Petrie completely.

"A-alright! Me discover cave, a-all a-alone!" Petrie stuttered.

Ducky walked to Petrie putting her hand on the left shoulder of the Flyer.

"You can do it, yep, yep, yep!" she whispered.

"Me can do it!" Petrie repeated. They grinned at each other.

"Good! Perhabs we should call out before going in!" Littlefoot proposed. "Just in case..."

"Yep, yep, yep, that is a gooood idea!" Ducky prattled, agreeing.

"Heeelloooooooooooo! Anyone?" Petrie shouted as loud as he could.

"If you hear us, respond!" Littlefoot screamed.

"Come out, whereever you are!" Ducky added.

They waited though they didn't get any answers.

"Great, so seeya later! Call, if anything's wrong!"

"Got it, flathead!"

"Hehehe, I do, I do!"

This way, the three friends separated. Petrie took the narrowest and smallest path, Ducky wandered along a path that was seemingly a bit less dark than the other two and Littlefoot took the remaining one. But they weren't alone...


End file.
